I’m still on an early schedule, so I’ve been getting up at the absurd time of 7AM. It’s still dark at 7AM!
I spent a few blustery hours catching up on some things, but after one gust rocked the rig so much it propelled my computer chair clear out of the study and into the dressing room–while I was sitting in it–I decided that I needed to get out. I vaguely remembered someone telling me that the nearby town of Lynden (through which I drove on border crossing day) has a museum that I’d like. I decided to go on an adventure and check it out with no advance research.
That ‘someone’ knows me frightening well. The Lynden Pioneer Museum is one of the best museums I have encountered in my North American travels!
I pulled into Lynden at about 10 and parked at one end of Front Street, which is the tourist strip. I popped into the visitor info centre and was told that the museum and Front Street antique shops are really the only things to see. I strolled four or five blocks until I found the unimposing museum housing many treasures.
I was greeted warmly by the volunteers, one of whom lives part-time in Alaska and knows Dawson and Whitehorse well! Her husband was touring around on his motorcycle last year, so there is a very good chance he stayed at Bonanza Gold (I didn’t think to ask, but we are ‘Motorcycle Friendly’.). Funny; it’s such a small world!
The museum is huge and thoughtfully laid out. One half the main floor is all about Lynden’s pioneer days and the Victorian era. I liked how the museum presented everything in its historical context. I know a lot about this period in history and still managed to learn many new things.
This section also has a bit devoted to WWII, but I went through that stuff very quickly. It interests me greatly, but always leaves me in a deep funk.
From this half of the museum, you can go down into the buggy exhibit. From what I understood, someone collected all these old buggies and donated them to the town. Instead of putting them in storage, they built an exhibit around them. And what an exhibit! Unlike so many displays of old vehicles that simply present them with a name plate, there was a lot of contextual information. I also found it very clever that they described the vehicles in contemporary terms, for example showing a lightweight model and comparing it to a sports car, or a sturdy, affordable Surrey buggy and saying it was the Honda Civic of its day.
The other half of the museum is stunning. It’s a faithful reproduction of Front Street in the early days of Lynden. You can check out all the businesses, then climb up to the second level and see things from a different perspective. While there was a logical layout and flow to everything, every step and turn around a corner led to a new surprise.
I spent about an hour and a half in this museum, which is the absolute minimum amount of time this small-town gem deserves. I could have easily spent another hour reading through the binder filled with 19th century correspondence.
mural in the free parking lot at Front and 7th Street
Lynden has a strong Dutch heritage
the exterior of the museum belies the treasures within!
Canadian-born Phoebe Goodell Judson named the town after the linden tree, but spelling it with a Y.
just one of many period exhibits
this article about the Victorian bed was fascinating; I had no idea that the Victorias slept in a reclining position
people find my bunk a tad constricting…
Canada’s part in liberating Holland in WWII has led to a special relationship between our two countries
motorcycle used during the liberation of Holland
this ‘sanitation bucket’ contained everything from toilet tissue to sanitary napkins
I loved these decaying pianos
so many buggies!
explanation of how the iron tire was added to a wooden wagon wheel
this little buggy was compared to a zippy UK sports car!
bellows
‘governess’, a pony cart
stagecoach
stagecoach
Yellowstone National Park transportation buggy
this was a type of wheelchair
note the phone number
old license plates, with Canada well represented
comparison of the surrey buggy to the Honda Civic!
surrey buggy
there was a wonderful binder full of old correspondence
sample letter from the late 1890’s
Letter to an editor regarding the publication of a book
letter to a husband describing an ailment
this bust is of the town founder; the museum is trying to raise the money to make a statue of her and her husband for town square
pump from the cemetery
outhouse
egg cleaner!
all about the washing of eggs
all about the washing of eggs
from the egg display, you open a plain white door to step into this. MAGICAL!
cheap eats
cheap eats
reproduction of downtown Lynden ‘in the day’. VERY impressive, look up at the lighting and telegraph wires!
the original Lynden department store sign
funny party invite for the retirement of a dentist
this isn’t a display; it’s the museum building, which was so wonderful–musty and with creaking floors; you could feel the weight of history
looking down into the bar seen in a previous picture
a bit about the guy who did the circus train display
circus train display
looking down into the church
train set
I had fun playing with Thomas the train engine! 😀
standing on a balcony
not my decor style 🙂
Native-American weaving
entrance to the ‘vault’ which has, in part, the Native American exhibits; you can tell the walls are really well insulated when you’re in there
tucked into a corner, nearly out of sight, is a fascinating bit about Victorian sexuality…
and Victorian brothels
After the museum, I decided to go check out the antique shops. Now that I live in an RV, I never shop without a goal in mind, and there were three things I wanted that I could only find in an antique shop. So, I’ve been casually scoping out the shops around here, but striking out at each one. Well, I hit pay dirt in Lynden!
I broke two pieces of my blue willow china since I got back from Montreal (just dropped them, had nothing to do with RV travel) and wanted to replace them–a small dessert bowl and a saucer. I found both of these items, plus another item I have been wanting for months: a large cast iron frying pan. I’ve been unhappy with my Teflon frying pan over the gas stove and been wanting to convert back to cast iron. But such pans are very trendy nowadays and incredibly hard to find. I found a good-sized one in fantastic shape for just $24. That’s the price for an unseasoned piece of crap in a home store, so I made a run for the cash register!
My shopping done, I decided to head home and have lunch there; I didn’t know it was possible to squeeze in so much activity before noon! 😀
