Shelburne Museum, Day 2

Bill didn't sleep well at all and was up before 6:00, I got up around 7:45. We finished our strawberry bread with our morning beverages, packed and headed out around 9:20.  Stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and were on the road by 9:45.

We stopped at The Shelburne Museum for Day 2 at 10:15.  Yesterday, we went to the right, so today we went to the left, starting at the Round Barn.  We had no idea what was inside but it was full of antique carriages, sleighs, toboggans and other conveyances.  Many of them were owned by the Webb family.

Check out the velvet seat!

This one is actually called a "traverse" and here's the information about it...

Next stop was the Circus Building, which is built in a U shape and fits in very nicely with the grounds and landscaping.  It includes a hand carved circus parade, as well as animals from a carousel.

And for the kiddos there's a carousel ride.

We checked out the Beach Gallery, which was full of firearms and missed the Railroad Station when we hurried to catch a tour of the steamboat Ticonderoga .

Seriously, this is an actual side-paddlewheel passenger steamboat that was completed in 1906 and traveled along Lake Champlain until 1953.  It was the last commercial operating steamer on Lake Champlain.  It's 220 feet long and was moved 2 miles overland from Lake Champlain to this exact spot in 1955.  That move was a "remarkable engineering effort that stands as one of the greatest feats of maritime preservation."

Short films run continuously showing the amazing move overland. I tried to find a link online but wasn't successful.  As we all know...I'm not that technically savvy.  If you're interested in watching it and can find it, send me the link and I'll include it here.  It's worth watching!

The top deck...

The red chicken was a design idea dreamed up by Mrs. Webb.

The main deck, very nice.

The tour was free and very worthwhile!

We wandered through the General Store and Apothecary Shop, which includes a collection of straight razors donated to the museum.  

From there to the Vermont House Gallery, which was full of antique furniture;

the Meeting House; Horseshoe Barn Annex - farm and trade wagons, stagecoaches and special vehicles; the Horseshoe Barn - more carriages, wagons and sleighs, the Print Shop, which has presses from the 1820's to 1950's.  I believe they do some commercial printing today.

Bookmark

Stationery

the Weaving Shop and finally...the Jail!

We didn't leave until 2:35!  It was a beautiful day, temperature around 70*.  

Before heading out of town, we made another stop at McDonalds for iced coffees and the bathroom, hit the road at 3:00.

We enjoyed a beautiful drive through Vermont and arrived at home by 6:50, still 64*.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Shelburne Museum Day 1

We considered visiting the Shelburne Farm today, but since the weather prediction was "iffy", we decided to tackle the Shelburne Museum instead.   It's a whole lot more than a museum!  

Briefly...it was founded by Electra Havemeyer Webb in 1947.  Clearly she had more money than she knew what to do with ;o)  I believe the "museum" covers 40+ acres, houses more than 150,000 items, exhibited in 39 buildings, many of which are historical.  While there are 2 - 3 art galleries, it's more like a "collection of collections".  It just goes on and on and on and after 5 1/2 hours, we ran out of time (and steam).

The grounds are quite lovely and incorporate 22 separate gardens.

The Round Barn from the parking area

Welcome Garden

We started by visiting the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education.  There was a traveling exhibition called "Playing Cowboy: America's Wild West Shows".  There were displays regarding Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Shows, old movies, and bronze statues depicting cowboys and Indians, among other items.  This mural reminded me of Ray Martineau, Dan's dad.  I'm not sure he would be flattered, tho.

There was also a huge wall display showing dried bugs as art and wallpaper, of all things.

Kind of weird and freaky...it was seriously an entire wall!!!  I think this exhibition was called "In the Garden".

There was a nice view of the property from inside this building, which sits up on the hill.

One of the historical structures on the property is the Ticonderoga, a Lake Champlain steamboat.  

More on that in tomorrow's post.

We happened on the Prentis House and the Stencil House just in time for a tour.

The Prentis House

These were both old, historic properties that Mrs. Webb had moved to the grounds.

The Bostwick Garden was located in front of the Prentis House.

Throughout the property there was an exhibition called "Bench Space".  This piece was located outside the Webb Gallery, one of the actual art museums on the property.

"Chaise Gabion" by Celeste Roberge

And this piece, titled "Rocking PacMan" by Louise Lim was inside the gallery.

It's designed to be used by two people and you could actually tip over and fall out if the other person doesn't stop it with their feet.  The gallery staff actually encouraged people to use it.

We visited the Sawmill and the Settler's Barn and House, then the Dorsett House, which was filled with duck decoys.  Interesting but a little overwhelming.  How many decoys can a person look at and appreciate?

On to the Stagecoach Inn, which was filled with folk art sculpture, paintings and more.  Apparently Mrs. Webb started her collection with a cigar shop Indian.  At one time, this weathervane sat on top of the firehouse in Manchester, New Hampshire.  We guestimate it's about 6 feet long and it's the largest one in the Museum's collection.

"Fire Engine" attributed to J.W.Fiske Company (1873-1893)

From there we skipped the Stone Cottage, which was crowded, but visited the Schoolhouse, the Variety Unit which was filled with lots of different things including a collection of glass canes (seems quite impractical), dolls and doll houses and mechanical toys.  One section of this structure is the only building to be original to the property.  

We skipped the Toy Shop because we were running out of time and wanted to see the Hat and Fragrance Textile Gallery before we left.  There is a nice collection of antique quilts, 

along with some beautiful hooked rugs and a traveling show by Crystal Cawley, a Portland, Maine artist that creates some pretty wild stuff with everyday items.  She "works with paper, textiles, collected objects, and re-purposed materials, like library cards or old book pages."

Internet photo

Internet photo

We were about as far from the entrance as you could possibly get, so we hustled our way back before they locked us in for the night.

We only saw about half of the property today, so we'll come back tomorrow before we head home.

We decided to stop at the Tiny Thai Restaurant on our way home.  We got there a little early, thankfully!  It's very popular, probably because they serve a great meal.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)