I went on a field trip with my school the other day, to old Sturbridge Village. It was great fun, and I’m very inclined to visit again in the future. While I was touring the general store, I decided that I just could’nt leave with out a souvenir. I found a section in the back of the store full of childrens’ toys from back in the day, when the town was not just a tourist attraction. And thats when I saw a tin whistle! I don’t think its a big name whistle…cooperman? It has a tin body that looks like it was hammered into shape (cleary it was hand made) and it has a wooden plug in the fipple. This whistle is great, it has a very chiffy sound to it. Its always good when you find whistles in unexpected places.
That’s awesome! I would have geeked out and flipped in the store if I were you. My friends would have made fun of me…
…although that’s nothing new to a tin whistler 
Connecticut-based Cooperman has been around quite a while, making quality fifes, drums and bodhráns. I bought a Cooperman bodhrán back around 1982, when non-toy bodhráns were hard to find. I guess their Clarke-type whistles do fall in the toy category, but some people like them because they’re quiet:
The Coopermans are tweakable sort of like Clarkes and with luck you can get them to play pretty well. I had a birdseye maple Cooperman fife that wasn’t bad at all. I got it at another restoration type place: Colonial Williamsburg.
Old Sturbridge Village is a wonderful place to spend a day, if anyone hasn’t been there. It’s an entire village of the 1830’s (don’t say “colonial” to anyone working there, unless you’re ready for a history lesson!).
If you live fairly close and intend to go back, consider a membership which will give you unlimited visits for a year: there are different things going on at the Village at all seasons and it’s great to see them all. If I lived close to it, I’d love to work there as a costumed volunteer, perhaps playing period music for visitors.