Most towns have a historical museum. My own town does. I love to learn about the history of the early days and beginnings of towns, villages and cities across the U.S.
On our GIRLZ DAY OUT, after touring the Jell-o Museum, we visited the LeRoy Historical Museum which was on the same property as the Jell-o Museum, separated only by a garden.
Since my favorite thing in the whole world is discovering old, unused, discarded household items, rescuing them, repurposing them into something useful and beautiful and "current", I was in my glory in this house which was the museum. The high ceilings, the extravagant woodwork, the wavy glass of the windows, the broad porches, the nooks and crannies.......................ohhhhhhhhh (swooning)
There were two docents there who made sure we didn't miss a thing. The home had a center entrance with a huge reception area with seating, paintings of ancestors, hat and umbrella rack, library table. To the left was a room that housed the "land office", full of surveyer's tools, roll top desk, many glass enclosed bookshelves, maps of settlement divisions. And to the right of the entrance hall was a parlor, with music room behind that.
It was in the parlor that we discovered that this house once was part of a seminary for women. In one of the nooks between the parlor and the music room was a historical display from Ingham University. The first exclusively women's university established in the U.S. Founded in 1835 as the LeRoy Female Seminary, chartered by the N.Y. State Board of Regents in 1852 as Ingham Collegiate Institute. The thing that struck me as most sweetly sentimental was a tiny class ring. Not a big showy ring like today's class rings but a dainty gold filigreed, pearl centered ring. Many of the women who matriculated at Ingham went on to make their mark on history. One, Sarah Frances Whiting founded the physics department and established the astronomical observatory at Wellesley College.
There were two kitchens in the museum. One, a 1930's kitchen and the other, an 1830's kitchen. That hundred year span produced astronmical advances in kitchen technology. The housewives went from scrubbing laundry in a wash tub with her hands to an electric wringer washing machine. From making meals in the fireplace over a wood fire to preparing meals on a gas powered stove. From having no refrigeration to an electric refrigerator, from candlelight to electric light, from personal visits and letters to a telephone.............
100 years before - 1830
All in all, GIRLZ DAY OUT was a totally precious day filled with beautiful memories.
