The Hammond Museum, Part 3

I had just entered the stone house, second building in the Hammond Museum complex, and discovered that it consisted of domestic scenes from an earlier era. I began in the kitchen, with its wood stove, fireplace and Dutch oven:

From there I entered the dining room, complete with a model of an apple pie:

A parlor:

And a bedroom:

Out behind the stone house was a carriage house which, it won't surprise you to learn, held carriages. Also, notice the old wheelbarrow:

And a fanning mill:

And a sleigh:

We walked out to the large barn which, I had been told, had been disassembled on a local farm, brought to this site and reassembled:

It was filled with a jumble of wondrous artifacts, everything illuminated by electrified railroad lanterns:

The barn was had a collection of all sorts of things - just as a barn should have:

From there we walked out to the blacksmith's shop:

And the railroad ticket sales office, also brought here from a local site. But this was the end of my tour. I stopped back in the office to thank the historian and her young assistant for the tours. Then I left for home, where I had a lot of animals waiting for me:

The Hammond Museum, Part 2

I was touring the Hammond Museum (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and came to this scale model railroad, once the primary means of moving goods in the area:

And yes, this rural part of America once moved people by stage coach:

A demonstration of Victorian elegance:

William McNeil (in yesterday's post) was not the only grizzled early pioneer with a larger than life personality. The museum also honored Ezra Brockway, who became rich selling salve. He purchased an island in the St. Lawrence, where he lived as a hermit for the rest of his life, becoming stranger and stranger with each passing year. He was found with his front door open one winter and hauled back to town to thaw out, but it was too late. Ezra Brockway had been too cold for too long, and he died:

There were lots of small artifacts donated by local residents but this one really caught my attention. This metal "Lil Abner Orchestra" was once someone's treasure:

 

The Hammond Fire Department bell:

 

A one room school house:

This elaborate stained glass window once graced the local Odd Fellows hall:

 

A Victorian parlor scene:

Wedding and funeral dresses:

I was taken next door to the second stone building and let inside for a second tour. That barn in the background, by the way, was also part of the museum:

Right inside the door was this broom holder, a curious but useful invention which might prove handy even today. But I'll wait until tomorrow to show you what else I found inside the stone building:

The Hammond Museum, Part 1

Most town museums close for the wintertime, but I discovered one which stayed open in the town of Hammond, up near the St. Lawrence River. It was an hour and half northwest of me, but we had a lovely winter day with no snow and temperatures above freezing, so off I went:


I got a personal tour by the town historian and learned that the two stone buildings had been built for the museum by local residents, mostly retirees. The large stone statue out front of the museums was of a local pioneer, William McNeil. He was, in fact, its first white settler:

I immediately noticed the building's elaborate weather vane and put my zoom lens to work in order to capture it:

The museum contained many scale models of buildings. The first one I saw was of the nearby Rossie Hotel, which had been visited by four presidents but is now gone, due to a fire:

I learned that the museum was named after Rob Elethorp, a local farmer, businessman, hobby carpenter and woodworker. During his retirement, he created many scale models of local buildings, which became the basis for this museum. Rob Elethorp had created models of two churches. If my memory is correct, this was the Presbyterian church. The town was, after all, settled by Scottish immigrants:

This model of a farm house had one side removed to show what was inside. I walked around the corner for a look inside:

The interior of the house had been furnished with hand carved furniture and was utterly fascinating. It was no wonder the local residents built a town museum to house Rob Elethorp's creations:

The local dairy barn had, I could see through the windows, tiny cow stanchions:

A scale model was dedicated to maple sugaring:

The scale model Hammond Creamery was especially detailed and the display included a photo of Robert Elethorp and an explanation of the history of the creamery. My favorite part was the tiny wheels of cheese, aging on the shelves on the second floor. Everything was carved from wood in perfect miniature:

This ship once sailed the mighty St. Lawrence:

And the Oak Point lighthouse was on the St. Lawrence. The Ferris wheel, I was told, was a bit of a mystery as no one could remember one in town. But there was (and still is) a yearly fair in Hammond, so they guessed that it may once have had a Ferris Wheel. The Hammond Fair is one of the few remaining, purely agricultural, small town fairs. I hope to see it this September: