Interpreter – Agriculture/Farm

Old Sturbridge Village
Updated 10/29/2025

Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, is seeking a full-time farmer to join our agricultural team. As a living history site dedicated to 19th-century rural New England, farms and their animals, crops, fields, and more provide an invaluable tool to engage and educate our guests. Under the supervision of the Agriculture Coordinator, this position will assist the agriculture team in seasonal and daily farm tasks and programming during the farmer’s year. This position is a full-time, benefitted position.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Deliver interpretive & educational programs for OSV’s audiences.
• Conduct work across the museum in the different farm spaces—duties include a wide variety of farming tasks such as feeding, watering, cleaning, planting, harvesting, fence work, and more. (Daily tasks change throughout the season and are dependent on the area of most need as determined by agriculture staff.)
• Perform daily wellness checks of the animals, recording and reporting any variance.
• Understand, identify, and appropriately respond to the multiple learning styles of a diverse audience that includes students, families, and other lifelong learners. Actively engage these audiences using a range of interpretation techniques including discussion, hands-on, demonstration, role-play, lecture, and others.
• Work evening programs such as Christmas by Candlelight, Phantoms by Firelight, Illuminations, or other evening shifts as needed.
• Preserve the artifacts, reproductions, and buildings in the Village by caring for them properly; ensure the safety, security, and cleanliness of the area of work.
• Participate in various projects or tasks assigned by program directors, managers, and coordinators.
• Safeguard visitors and staff by being alert to foreseeable health and safety hazards.
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.

Physical and Scheduling Requirements (Essential Functions)

• Must be able to regularly lift loads of up to 50 pounds.
• Must be able to work weekends, holidays, and varied shifts, including early mornings and evenings.
• Must be able to work outdoors year-round in all weather conditions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be outside for long periods. OSV is a large outdoor history museum and will require walking on unpaved roads and hills. This position frequently requires reaching with hands and arms, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, and occasionally climbing or balancing.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent face-to-face communication skills, with the ability to communicate ideas and information clearly, both verbally and in written format.
• Must be a team player and flexible to assist in other divisions when the need arises.

Education and/or Experience

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• One year of farm or related experience.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with a wide variety of audiences.

About OSV

Old Sturbridge Village, the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast, depicts a rural New England town of the 1830s. Step inside more than 40 original buildings, and explore homes, meetinghouses, a district school, a country store, a bank, a working farm, three water-powered mills, and trade shops – all situated on more than 200 scenic acres. Talk with authentically costumed historians and see heritage breed farm animals. Discover the endless ways to immerse yourself in the Village. Old Sturbridge Village, a museum and learning resource of New England life, invites each visitor to find meaning, pleasure, relevance, and inspiration through the exploration of history.

Old Sturbridge Village is committed to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. We are passionate about developing and maintaining an inclusive, equitable, and accessible working and learning environment for all visitors, staff, and OSV community members. We believe every member of our team enriches our diversity by exposing us to different ways of understanding and engaging the world around us.

Individuals in this position are subject to a Criminal Conviction Record check upon hire and every other year thereafter.

Old Sturbridge is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of Old Sturbridge Village to provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons without regard to race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or membership in the uniformed services.

Benefits: Health, Dental, Vision, 403(b), Employee Discount, Paid Time Off
Position Type: Full time
Salary Range: $16.50-$18.75/hr

Applicants who wish to apply should submit their application on:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RGMYTG2