The Shelbourne Museum-Vermont

Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 4-5

Lone Pine Campsites

Burlington, VT

All the tour groups showed a trip to Shelburne Museum near Burlington so it must be worth seeing. Since it was on the way to New York, we moved the RV the 56 miles to a new campground.  It was pouring rain when we got to the campground at 11:30 and it was a hard decision to go to the museum or just stay warm and dry in the RV for the rest of the day.  Most of the museum was inside so we decided to see it.  We still got soaking wet running from building to building.  Fortunately, tickets are good for 2 days, so we spent all day Sunday there, as well.

The Shelburne Museum is on 45 acres with 39 exhibiting buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds.  Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888-1960) was a pioneering collector of American folk art and founded the Shelburne Museum in 1947.  The daughter of H.O. and Louisine Havermeyer, important collectors of European and Asian art, she exercised an independent eye and passion for art, artifacts, and architecture.  When creating the Museum she took the imaginative step of collecting 18th and 19th century buildings from New England and New York, in which to display the Museum holdings.  These included houses, barns, a meeting house, lighthouse, jail, a covered bridge and the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga.

The house pictured above is Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building constructed on the site in 1967 to house the interior of her Park Ave, New York apartment and art collection.  She wanted her art displayed at the Shelburne Museum so her children built this house as a memorial to her.

The wood working was amazing.  There were paintings by Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, and Manet. 

Every detail of her New York home was brought to the house.

Check out the leaf of this writing desk.  It was carved to fit the face of the desk when folded back.

The stairway in this house was amazing leading to 3 floors.

This lighthouse built in 1871was relocated from Colchester Reef in Lake Champlain.  After 62 years of service it was decommissioned by the Coast Guard and the lighthouse keeper was replaced by an automatic electric beacon.  In 1952 Electra Havemeyer Webb purchased the neglected and dilapidated lighthouse, dismantling and relocating it to its present landlocked location on the museum grounds.

The Ticonderoga was built in 1906 and was moved 2 miles from Lake Champlain to Shelburne in a 5 month project that had to be done in the dead of winter while the ground was frozen and could handle the weight of the ship being moved on railroad rails.

It was a steam powered paddle wheeler that moved passengers & freight on Lake Champlain.

The Engine room

Beautiful etched windows on the ship.

The Stagecoach Inn was built in 1787 and housed the Folk art sculpture, paintings, trade signs, weathervanes, ship carvings and decoys.

Ship masthead

Newstand statue

Christopher Columbus carved statue.

Stern Board from late 18th or early 19th century.  This stern board from an unidentified vessel depicts a Native American figure, representing the new nation of the United States.

The round barn was home to a funeral hearse, sleds, and horse drawn carriages.  The construction of this round barn was amazing.

Stage coach for Boston, New York, Albany, and Buffalo

Popcorn wagon. This popcorn wagon is the ancestor of the mobile food industry.  It was set up along busy thoroughfares, in public parks, and at sporting events.  Popcorn was served from the side windows.  The corn was popped manually over two Kerosene burners.  The steel body ensured that the wagon was fireproof.

The cadillac of carriages.

Funeral hearse complete with sled runners for winter travel.

1920's carousel still operates for anyone that wants to ride.

The Circus  Building held hand carved figures, Circus posters and carousel animals.

The Kirk Bros. Circus was originally conceived as a toy for the maker's four children.  Spending more than 40 years from 1910-1956 to handcrafting the circus, Edger Decker Kirk of Harrisburg, PA carved each of the 3,500 pieces using a simple penknife and foot-powered jigsaw.

The details in each figure was amazing to see.

The Circus Building also housed Roy Arnold's Miniature Parade.

Carved on a scale of one-inch to one foot, Roy Arnold's miniature circus parade recreates the pomp and pageantry of the procession that once heralded the show's arrival.  Measuring 525 linear feet, the Arnold parade is the equivalent of a two-mile long procession.

Roy Arnold spent 25 years carving his miniatures with the help of 5 assistants using drawings and old photographs.  His attention to detail extend to the wagon's fully functioning breaks and star wheels, which are constructed of more than 60 separate parts.

In 1903 James Bailey commissioned a bandwagon for the Barnum & Bailey Circus that cost $40,000 in 1903 ($2.4 million today) that weighed 10 tons and required a team of 40 horses to pull it.  This was the carving of that wagon and horse team.

The collection of Carousel animals.

Hand carved elephants in the parade.  No two were alike.

The Beach Lodge and Gallery housed a collection of Vermont firearms.

The Beach Lodge was a collection of Adirondack life and hunting.

That's one big moose.

We couldn't pass up a picture of the colors of Fall leaves on the ground.

Railroad Station from Shelburne, VT built in 1890.  They also had 2 steam engines and tour life of travel via private rail car.

Meeting house (Methodist Church) from Charlotte, VT 1840.  Even the clock still keeps time.

Vermont House Gallery from 1790.  This house features an exhibition showcasing 18th and 19th-century high-style American furniture and decorative arts.

1820 wall clock

Check out the detail of these drawers.  Each front carved to match up 4 drawers with top.

Horseshoe Barn built in 1949 to house a collection of Carriages, Wagons and Conestoga.

The Variety Unit is an 1835 building that houses this amazing glass cane collection, Decorative arts, glassware, pewter, ceramics, scrimshaw, food molds, dolls, doll houses, automata and more.

17th and 18th Century dolls

1840 School house.

one room of course.

This 1845 covered bridge was brought here from Cambridge, VT.

A Double-laned covered bridge with footpath used to be the entrance to the museum grounds.

1832 East Dorset, VT house

1782 Cavendish, Vermont housed life in 1820's Vermont.

Webb Gallery was built in 1960 highlights American Art

These were two of Becky's favorites.  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

We have really enjoyed the steeples on the area churches.  This is the Methodist Church of Shelburne, VT, we saw leaving the museum.

We also spotted this piece of local art shaped like a jack made of fire hydrants.

The town of Shelburne really gets into the Fall season with scarecrows on the green.

Tomorrow we are headed back into northern New York to see the St. Lawrence 1000 Island area near Alexandria Bay before we head south.  Stay tuned for more travels...

Becky and Lonnie