Franklin County House of History - Part 1

It had been a long time since I was at the museum in Malone, New York and winter was rapidly approaching when they'd be closed. So one afternoon I drove to Malone to take another look:

The entrance leads into an old fashioned kitchen, complete with wood cook stove:

And a real pantry:

Even the curtains in the pantry looked old timey:

From the kitchen, I proceeded into the more formal parts of this old mansion, where a headless manikin in a servant's uniform stood by the door:

Malone was the home of William A. Weaver, 19th Vice-President of the United States, elected in 1876 with Rutherford B. Hayes. This was not Mr. Weaver's home, but this bedroom contains his furniture and personal belongings:

A nightstand in the bedroom:

Back into the more formal rooms, I took notice of several glass display cases which held Civil War memorabilia:

A selection of old teapots caught my fancy. I've always liked teapots even though I don't like tea:

Parrit Blaisdell Jr., a stage coach driver between Windsor and Montpelier, Vt. married Betsy Standish, a descendant of Miles Standish, in 1822. Their portraits now hang in the House of History:

Then I proceeded to the elegant front stairway, where a 1920s style flapper was standing:

Before going upstairs, however, there were several parlors to investigate. I'll post more photos tomorrow from the Franklin County House of History:

The Walker House Museum In Madrid, New York

I really thought I'd seen all the local town museums (except my own, which seems to have no hours at all when it's open to the public), but then discovered the town of Madrid had one. I drove there one Saturday morning and found an old farm house, the Walker house, surrounded by corn fields:

Across the county road was an old barn and I imagined how nice it would be to include that as part of the museum:

I entered the small house and found an eclectic mixture of old objects:

The kitchen stove was piled with other objects from bygone eras and someone had taken the time to make up several displays of old time kitchen utensils:

The kitchen sink had a hand pump, but the old fashioned faucet was quite old as well. It sure brought back memories of my grandmother's Victorian Era house:

There was a wonderful country kitchen pantry, with its shelves fully stocked. It was my favorite part of the museum:

A small school house display:

And old dresses from various eras:

Baby clothes and children's toys:

I thanked the lady who tended the museum and walked out to my car. Behind the farm house museum were acres of corn stuble, backed up by woodlands in autumn colors:

I drove home a different way and discovered the tiny settlement of Madrid Springs, where I found this gigantic hay bale scarecrow. For point of reference, the hay bale which made up its head was probably 5 feet in diameter and about 1000 pounds:

And of course there were pumpkins everywhere. I drove home on a perfect autumn day and began working around my own place: