Comments (0)

By Doug, January 13, 2010 21:50

Seneca Falls, New York, is the home of the National Woman’s Hall of Fame where their motto is “come stand among great women.”  Well, here are a few of the “great women” one can stand among:

Amelia Earhart is famous for her trip aboard a Lockheed Electra L-10E, where she attempted to circumnavigate the globe but got lost, crashed and died (along with her navigator) instead.  But what many people don’t know is that before that fateful trip, on March 22, 1937, Amelia prepared to take off from Luke Field in Hawaii for a similar attempt to fly around the world.  But, she overloaded her plane, ground looped it and crashed.  Pilot error was cited.  Crashing seemed to be a nasty habit of hers.  Incidentally, Wiley Post (arguably much less famous than Amelia Earhart) was the first person to circumnavigate the world (solo) in July, 1937.

Helen Keller is another famous woman in the NWHF.  Helen is famous for being deaf, dumb and blind.  But more importantly, she is the inspiration for a number of wonderful jokes like “if Helen Keller fell down in the woods, would she make a sound?” and “Why can’t Helen Keller drive—because she’s a woman!”

Sacagawea (or however you want to spell/pronounce it).  In spite of what others have said, if you actually read the journals of Louis and Clark, Sacajawea provided interpretive services for the group and helped guide them during their trip through her native lands.  Other than that, she was basically along for the ride.  Considering Lewis and Clark were able to navigate and communicate effectively during other parts of their journey where Sakakawea wasn’t able to provide services, her actual value is questionable.

Naturally, there are a lot of women in the National Women’s Hall of Fame who have provided great value to society (Lucille Ball, Julia Child, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks) and are not just “the first woman who…”  But, there are plenty of figureheads in the NWHF for those who are interested in woman who are famous for any reason whatsoever.  Unfortunately, what’s truly missing from the museum (excuse me, hall of fame) are countless women like the pioneers who crossed the country in covered wagons, giving birth along the way and hardly stopping long enough to squat.  But, glory seems to have more to do with good marketing than actual achievement.

National Women’s Hall of Fame

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 17, 2009 03:01

Museum of Family Camping

Allenstown, New Hampshire is the home of the Museum of Family Camping. It’s located in the old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) dining hall within Bear Brook State Park, along with a couple of other museums that may (or may not) be of interest. The museum was conceived by Roy Heise and opened in 1993.

The Museum has a story to tell its visitors: The story of manufactured products used in camping; the story of families, groups, and individuals as they share the outdoors; the story of parks and campgrounds that welcome campers for recreation and fellowship.

Sounds like three stories to me. But, if you like camping, it’s worth a visit to the museum just so you can see some of the old camping gear like the canvas tent; you won’t complain as much about backpacking with a modern tent after seeing the stuff people used to lug around!

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 13, 2009 04:29

Herreshoff Museum

Put on your captain’s cap and do your best impression of Thurston Howell III because today we’ll visit the Herreshoff Marine Museum / America’s Cup Hall of Fame. Yes, yachting is on our agenda so let’s shove off and hoist the mainsail; we’re headed for Bristol, Rhode Island!

Yacht racing is not something the average Joe enjoys on a typical summer weekend.  Even the Wikipedia entry on the America’s Cup sounds uppity:

The America’s Cup is the most prestigious regatta and match race in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport, predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige. Although the most salient aspect of the regatta is its yacht races, it is also a test of boat design, sail design, fundraising, and management skills. The Cup originally named the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup was changed to the America’s Cup after the first yacht to win the trophy, the schooner America. The trophy remained in the hands of the New York Yacht Club of the United States from 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the Cup was won by the challenger, Australia II of Australia, ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport. The skipper of Australia II, John Bertrand, was quoted as saying, “This puts yacht racing back on the map.”

The museum, as the name implies, is actually two museums in one. The Herreshoff museum displays a collection of some 60 boats including the largest boat to compete in the America’s Cup and Rhode Island’s oldest boat, SPRITE. The museum also houses 500 models that are themselves worth the price of admission.

The America’s Cup half of the museum looks at some of the people behind the race. Unless you are really into yachting, this half of the museum is a “must miss” even though the rest of the museum is worth a visit.

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 8, 2009 02:59

A wall of brooms from the Main Street Museum

The Main Street Museum in White River Junction, Vermont is a collection of, well, junk. As far as I can tell, it’s a bunch of junk arranged in a museum-like setting. I’m talking about “normal” junk, like you see in other museums and “real” junk like you might find in your kitchen “junk drawer.” But, they package it nicely and that apparently makes all the difference:

The Flora and Fauna collections represent invasive species from the infrastructure of an economically marginal Vermont downtown. Our dried cats are not true mummies; they are merely dehydrated. Our local collections of knotweed, dogweed and loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) are presented alongside historic and geographically significant specimens representing the various cultures of the earth. Paving stones from Rome and cobblestones from our local railroad underpass are preserved here as well as asphalt from Los Angeles, New Orleans and Baltimore. Coffee cups and aspirin bottles from now defunct work places in White River Jct. are displayed alongside bricks from Monticello, masonry from the Alamo in Texas (and the Forteleza in San Juan), and dried rose specimens (family Rosaceæ) from Robert Todd Lincoln’s—and Jefferson Davis’s—houses.

…

Assigning values to artifacts is increasingly difficult in the environment of most major collecting institutions. The neutrality of theoretical systems utilized by any museum is currently being called into question. As a small independent repository the Main Street Museum has the flexibility—indeed the mandate—to examine the layered and ever changing meanings of objects and their relationships to their surroundings. As the uses for objects are more or less continuously in flux, we analyze these uses through traditional disciplines (art historical, scientific and qualitative methods), but also through psychological analysis as well. Our emotional relationship with objects is formed abstrusely. Therefore the meaning of objects is unlocked only through similar cryptic means.

So, it’s a bizarre, one-of-a-kind museum that’s worth a visit if for no other reason than to form your own opinion of the place.

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 1, 2009 09:05

Although I’ve been to most of the places I post, I haven’t been everywhere in the country and I need to rely on tips or Internet searches to find some of my content.  And, since I like to spread my posts around the country, I recently tried to find something interesting to see or do in Connecticut.  I couldn’t find anything!  Do you live in Connecticut?  Have you visited it?  If so, please give me some suggestions for interesting places to visit there!

Comments (0)

By Doug, June 27, 2009 06:31

Conjoined Twins (or Two-Headed Child)

When Thomas Dent Mütter donated his collection to College of Physicians of Philadelphia, he didn’t intend it to be a freak show. Indeed, he wanted other physicians and students of medicine to see and learn from artifacts from people with strange diseases and deformities. And for many years that was its primary purpose. But today, it attracts tourists like a P. T. Barnum sideshow.

Some of the pieces in the collection include a plaster cast of Ying and Yang, the famous Siamese twins, from which the common name for conjoined twins came; the “soap lady” whose flesh turned into a soap-like substance; hundreds of skulls with various abnormalities; skeletons of “two headed people” (a type of conjoined twin); and a woman with a horn growing out of her forward. The museum also contains many old medical instruments that were likely very effective in “curing” people, once the patient saw them (“No, doctor, really. I feel MUCH better now!”). And, there are more normal exhibits from famous people like a cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland.

Gretchen Worden is the woman “credited” with moving the museum from a place of medical science seen by a few hundred people a year in 1975 to more than 60,000 tourists a year when she died in 2004. No word on whether or not she became an exhibit herself!

The Mütter Museum

Comments (0)

By Doug, June 24, 2009 07:29

Lucy the Elephant, outside Atlantic City, New Jersey

In 1881, 25-year-old James V. Lafferty had some oceanfront land to sell and he needed a gimmick to do it. That gimmick was Lucy, a six-story high, 90-ton wood and tin structure built in the shape of a giant elephant from nearly a million pieces of wood. Lucy worked as intended, Lafferty got a patent on animal shaped buildings and people flocked to his land to see it. Lucy was so popular Lafferty built two more similar structures including one on Coney Island that was twice as high as Lucy but it burned and today the original Lucy is the only survivor.

Throughout her history, Lucy has served as a real estate office (her original purpose), bar, and hotel. Today she serves as a museum. Entry into Lucy is through a door on one of her legs and visitors can go all the way up to “howdah” for commanding views of the ocean.

If you’re in Atlantic City, take a few minutes to drive to Margate, New Jersey and see Lucy in person. Since she can be seen for up to eight miles away, you shouldn’t have any problem finding her!

Comments (0)

By Doug, June 23, 2009 07:43

Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine

The Seashore Trolley Museum was founded in 1939 with one open trolley car, No. 31 from the Biddeford & Saco Railroad Company. Over the years thousands of members have followed the founding fathers by helping the Museum grow to be the premier electric railway museum in the world. Today, our collection contains over 250 transit vehicles, most of them trolleys, from all over the United States, Canada, and many other countries. We are the oldest, and largest electric railway museum in the world.

In 1939, three men were out and about looking at trains in Lewiston, Maine. At the time, one of the few remaining companies to still be offering trolley service, the Biddeford & Saco Railroad, had just ordered buses and the end of trolley service was drawing near. So, the three men raised $150 (from 10 different people) and purchased one of the trolley cars for restoration and preservation.

From that one car, the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine was born. Today, the museum boasts the largest collection of trolley cars anywhere in the world. Some of the trolleys are still in operation and the museum entry fee includes unlimited rides.

Comments (0)

By Doug, June 19, 2009 21:58

 

Salem Witch Museum

There aren’t too many more bizarre events in American history than the Salem witch trials. Although on the surface it was not much more than a bunch of bratty little girls run amok, in the end 14 women and 5 men were found guilty and hanged while another man was pressed to death (large rocks were placed on his chest until he suffocated) for not entering a plea. Contrary to popular belief, nobody was burned at the stake; that was more popular in merry old England.

Providing context to the events of 1692 and 1693 is the Salem Witch Museum, the most popular museum in all of Massachusetts. Housed in a creepy old stone building with a statue of a hag out front, the museum will give you chills even before you enter. It’s a “must see” at night when lit by green lights. Inside, you’ll find a variety of scenes depicting the events of the accusations and trials, complete with voice recordings that really put you in the period and provide a little bit of insight into exactly what it must have been like.

So, what exactly happened? Well, nobody is 100% sure since much of the context is lost to history but, never fear, I’ll give you my take on the situation (this is MY blog after all)!

Problem #1: The niece and daughter of a minister get “sick” and have “fits.” Likely just play acting (they were 9 and 11 years old), other girls in town started acting similarly.

Problem #2: Since the finest medical minds in town couldn’t find anything wrong with the girls physically, it was obvious they were possessed by the devil.

Problem #3: When the girls were asked “who did this to you?” they pointed out whoever they didn’t like. First three up to bat: Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Tituba. Tituba was a slave who liked to entertain the children with tales of demonic possession.

Problem #4: Since the three accused were of low standing in the community, nobody stood up for them.

Problem #5: Anybody who said the girls were full of crap was then accused of being a witch.

Problem #6: Cotton Mather wrote to one of the judges, supporting prosecution but stating the court should not rely heavily on “spectral evidence” (accusations). No, he had more scientific ideas in mind and anybody who is a fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a good idea of 17th century scientific evidence. Here are some of the better ways of spotting a witch:

The first one was apparently “proof positive” someone was a witch and it was easy, just look for a “Witches Teat” somewhere on the body. Simply poke a mole or some other skin blemish with a dull needle and if the person didn’t feel much pain, then she’s a witch. Burn her! I mean, hang her!

Second, but taking slightly more effort, was making a “Witch Cake.” The cake was made from Rye and other miscellaneous ingredients and, oh, urine from the possessed (ah, finally some science). The cake was fed to a dog and the witch would cry out in pain as if being eaten by the dog. This method was particularly effective if the interrogator and the witch were left in private for the “experiment.”

The touch test was another fine method of finding a witch. The suspected witch was blindfolded and then made to touch the afflicted. If the afflicted acted possessed, then obviously the blindfolded person was a witch. Can’t find anything wrong with that method!

There were other methods, but you get the idea. In the end, people finally started to realize they were acting like a bunch of ripe asses and the events came to a close and people found other hobbies to occupy themselves. Lots of hubbub that could have been prevented with a couple of good spankings!

Anyway, when you’re in or near Salem Massachusetts, take time to visit the Salem Witch Museum and form your own opinion.

Comments (2)

By Doug, June 14, 2009 10:29

Replica of the drill and pumping station at the Drake Oil Well museum in Titusville, Pennsylvania

Quick, where was the first oil well in the United States drilled? Texas? No. Alaska? Of course not! The first oil well in the United States was in Pennsylvania. The year was 1859 and a man named Edwin L. Drake drilled an oil well in Titusville Pennsylvania thus starting America’s oil industry.

The museum itself consists of the obligatory gift shop, a replica oil derrick and pumping station and a rock placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution commemorating the historic event that happened some 50 years earlier. Nowadays, since the well is dry, the pump just cycles crude in and out of the original hole, which is still interesting to watch.

The museum also has some displays on oil from around the world and some ways we’re dependent on oil that may not be obvious to many. Back in the day, for example, we used oil to melt the raw material needed to make glass.

Too bad they can’t find a little more crude in that well; we could use it!