An Overnight Experience at a Viking Longhouse Replica

To say the least, the field trip to the reconstructed Viking Longhouse was an experience well worth having. Coming from this author, this statement means A LOT because when one is not a camper, by any means, as am I, the idea of sleeping in a tent, cooking food completely from scratch, and using an outhouse can seem like a nightmare about to come true. With this less-than-positive outlook, it is easy to begin dreading the whole oncoming experience. However, as I mentioned in the first sentence, it was an experience well worth having, so one can conclude that my outlook definitely changed as soon as I gave the idea a chance to really become this amazing, beyond excellent chance to really learn about an age in human history, which most people only get to experience when they read a book on the subject.

After just over a two hour drive we arrived in the small village of Stratford, just outside Marshfield, WI, at the home of Owen and Elspeth Christianson, who were gracious enough to let us stay at their beloved reconstructed Viking-Age Longhouse. After setting up camp, a few of my classmates helped with cooking dinner and after we all had our fill, we settled into the longhouse for what could easily be called “Storytime.” Owen and Elspeth regaled us with the fables (called sagas) from the Viking age, including those surrounding Erik the Red and his son, the ever-famous Leif Erikson, and their adventures among Greenland, Iceland, as well as the “New World.” After they finished their tale, we all settled into our tents to get an attempt at a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, after breakfast, we got to do multiple projects that only made the history we were experiencing come alive, just that much more. The first activity I participated in was a little metalworking. We got the opportunity to try our hand at blacksmith work in the form of creating an “S” hook. This was my favorite part of the entire field trip and my “S” hook actually turned out really nice, thanks to the experienced blacksmiths who were guiding us in our endeavors. The second activity I took part in was learning how to wire-weave. This was the process that was used in the medieval age to create jewelry. My intention was to make a bracelet, but I accidentally made it a little too long and now it works better as a necklace. This brought us right up to lunch. After, my group was given a lecture in textiles of the Viking age, which included a rough introduction to a variety of different looms including: the warp-weighted loom, a tablet loom, and a sprung loom as well as the different types of clothing the Vikings would have worn. The last activity of the day was a quick lecture in woodworking and how people of the Viking age constructed the smaller everyday things they needed, specifically a water bucket. All of these different activities really got my mind going on the different possibilities that I could take on for my final project. Lastly, after a great dinner of pork, sauerkraut, and steamed vegetables, we made the two hour trek back to Green Bay.

I find it slightly ironic that the only part of this field trip that I would not repeat was the most modern, today-style aspect of sleeping in a tent. However, the whole longhouse experience and getting to learn in one of the most hands-on lecture/units I’ve ever been so privileged to get to participate was beyond worth a night of freezing in a thin, barely-waterproof, canvas attempt at a shelter. I would not give up what this last weekend of late September has taught me and all that I have learned and taken away from it.