one of the best things about our trip was our visit to the Shelburne Museum. go there if you can! it's amazing!
it was started by Electra Havemeyer Webb in 1947. from the museum's website: "When creating the Museum she took the imaginative step of collecting 18th- and 19th-century buildings from New England and New York in which to display the Museum's holdings, relocating 20 historic structures to Shelburne. These include houses, barns, a meeting house, a one-room schoolhouse, a lighthouse, a jail, a general store, a covered bridge, and the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga." Don't forget the Webb family's private train, and the old Shelburne train station, and a 518 foot hand-carved miniature circus parade and a 3,500 piece miniature 3 ring circus (the boys especially loved those). The museum also has an extensive collection of folk-art and quilts. When Mrs. Webb died a special building was created to recreate her New York City apartment, with everything inside it, including her $350 million worth of Impressionist art and all her furniture and interiors. Right now there is an amazing Tiffany exhibit and a motorcycle exhibit.
when i was a kid, I went ever year with my elementary school class and i LOVED it. i hadn't been back for years. it was EVEN BETTER than i remembered! How often does that happen?! Lee and Asa liked it too.
here are my favourite things from this visit (no way can you see it all in one day):
a 1790's Vermont house. interactive for kids- see how they made their food and how flax is processed to make linen (amazing process! 1 acre of flax would yield 1 linen bedsheet) here's Asa threshing some flax.
the steamship Ticonderoga- a beautiful boat
the 1950's house. This house was adjacent to the museum. when it came up for sale they bought it and recreated a 1950 family home.
I can't wait to go back next year and take my man there. My dad's partner works there now as a docent, so we will definitely go back often!
