Five years after nonprofit living history museum Old Sturbridge Village took over day-to-day operations of the historic Coggeshall Farm Museum in Rhode Island, the two entities are now merging.
Located in the town of Bristol, Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay, Coggeshall Farm Museum is a 48-acre living history museum showcasing what daily life was like on a late 18th-century coastal farm.
Old Sturbridge Village said the merger of the two museums will allow Coggeshall to focus on improving its educational offerings and preserving the farm, which dates back to the 1790s.
“It has long been my goal to strengthen the sustainability of living history in New England,” Jim Donahue, president and CEO of Old Sturbridge Village and member of the WBJ 2025 Power 100, said in a Wednesday press release announcing the merger. “In today’s tourism economy, some organizations are just too small to go it alone. By reinforcing Coggeshall Farm’s future, we can ensure it continues to offer a distinctive early American learning experience for years to come.”
Both museums are retaining their names and own identities, with Coggeshall representatives joining the Old Sturbridge Village Board of Trustees, which will oversee both sites.
Old Sturbridge Village is the fifth largest art and culture nonprofit and eighth largest tourist attraction in Central Massachusetts, with $15.1 million in revenue in fiscal 2024 and 200,000 visitors in 2023, according to information provided to the WBJ Research Department.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
