The Nash Cooper Shop was originally built in Waldoboro, Maine in 1840. It was relocated to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA.
According to an article in the Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire) on September 21, 1968:
"Old Cooper Shop is Museum Piece
Waldoboro, Maine-- The Nash Cooper Shop in the coastal community is destined to become a museum piece at Sturbridge Village, Mass.
The shop was donated by Mrs. Arthur Brown of Waldoboro, whose grandfather, James A. Nash, once ran it.
She said that Nash used the building in winter to build lime casks for the Rockland lime industry.
John O. Curtis of Sturbridge Village said the shop probably was built about 1840. He said it is evident that the huge timbers and remains of a brick fireplace once were used in another building and salvaged to build the shop.
The museum intends to restore the building to its original appearance and will demonstrate the cooper's craft in it daily.
The shop will give Maine two buildings at the outdoor museum. The Hapgood-Hamblin wool carding mill from South Waterford will be the other."
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From the museum website:
"Waldoboro, Maine, c. 1840
Moved to OSV, 1968
Originally owned by Maine farmer and artisan James Nash, the Cooper Shop is crowded with tools, casks, kegs, and pails. Coopers, or barrel makers, practiced their trade on a seasonal cycle. In the winter, they cut and hauled wood for stave stock and stacked it by the shop to dry, choosing different woods based on the goods that would be stored inside each barrel. From late March until June, coopers did farm work and made and repaired dairy containers that had shrunk or been damaged over the winter. During the summer, they worked in the fields. But at harvest time, they made barrels to store and transport grain, apples, potatoes, meal, flour, freshly pressed cider, and salted meat."
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