You must see the Shelburne Museum

We have been to quite a few museums on this trip, but none is like the Shelburne. In most museums you go into buildings to see the exhibits. In this museum the buildings are the exhibits. We had no idea what we would be seeing when we started off this morning. We only knew that everyone we talked to said it was an amazing place and that when you bought the ticket it was good for two days.

When we got there we got a map of the various buildings with a short description of what was in each building. It was overwhelming. There is a little trolley that goes around the place and will take you from one site to another if you don't want to walk. At the recommendation of the staff person we took the trolley all the way around so that we had an overview of the area and some idea of what we might want to see. Good idea. There is just too much to see in one day. So I identified a few things, we got off the trolley and started to walk. We first saw the special exhibit of quilts made by people who are touched by Alzheimer's. Interesting, but not riveting. We then walked to the next building which was an exhibit about the circus. There were carved figures representing all the participants in the circus set up as a parade (it was 500 feet long and the figures were scaled one inch to a foot). There were also posters and pictures and general info about circuses. The building itself was a horshoe on a hill with a walk through underneath in the middle. (I don't know if the picture shows it well, but it was unusual.)

We then went to the train station. They had actually taken a train station and moved it to the site. There was an old train - you can see how huge - and an old luxury car - and all the stuff that you would see in the depot.

Next we saw an old paddle wheel steamer (the Ticonderoga) that used to go on Lake Champlain. I think this was Bob's favorite.

I can't keep track of all we saw. We saw several old houses that had been moved from their sites to the museum and filled with period furniture. We saw a print shop, a weaver's shop, a toy shop. There was an old barn that was filled with carriages - both private and public conveyance types. There was a general store with an apothecary, a barber shop and a doctor's office. There was an old school house. There was a pioneer cabin, a covered bridge, and an old saw mill. There was the most interesting lighthouse I had ever seen. (All of these buildings had been dismantled from where they were and then brought to this site.) There were beautiful gardens, some with things that would have been in the gardens during the period of the house, some with relevant flowers, like the fragrant ones outside of the perfumery. There were lilacs everywhere in full bloom and smelling just delicious - especially to a lilac lover like me. There was also a home of the future built out of steel containers. We missed the various art exhibits - just too much for one day.

In every building there was a staff person to tell you about the building and its history and information about the various artifacts or displays of how the printing presses or weaving looms worked. We thought that they were volunteers, but they were not. They were paid staff and they were responsible for knowing what was in their particular building and making you welcome.

The day was drizzley so there were not too many people in the museum. When we walked into each buildling we had what amounted to a private tour. I understand that on weekends or when the weather is better it is so crowded that you can barely see everything, much less get the tour. So we picked a good day and were very lucky.

There were many more buildings, but we had been there the whole day and just got too tired to stay and see more. We are now back in Honey, the rain has stopped, the sun is out, and tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful (bicycle) day.