Midway Village Museum

As promised, here are a few of the pictures taken on our recent visit to The Midway Village Museum featured in my Walking Squares in Rockford post. When it was only a village, Rockford was originally called Midway and the Main Museum Center, which is open year round, covers some 20,000 square feet including six large galleries filled with interesting artifacts related to Rockford and its history. The Victorian-era Village is a seasonal experience, open from June through September. Although the buildings were closed for the winter when we visited, we took a walk around the village and saw enough to make us want to visit again next year and take one of their guided tours.

Interpreters in period dress will guide you on a one hour tour through 26 historical buildings filled with artifacts from the early 1900’s. There are also eight gardens that typify Victorian-era horticulture. Although one hour isn’t anywhere near long enough to cover the entire village, it does state on its website that if you are interested in any particular building, you can request that it be included in the tour. I’m curious to see how that works.

There are several special events, programs and fundraisers held throughout the year and there are also private rental opportunities available at the Museum. At $8 or $7 for seniors, the price of admission to the Main Center Museum was well worth it and an additional $2 for the guided tour of the Village seems to be a very reasonable amount.

I also noticed on their website that they have an Historic Iris Preservation Garden that has a collection of rare irises dating from the 1500’s to 1910, with private tours during the bloom season. Interesting! And The Woodward Millhouse can be toured by appointment only so, if you’re planning on going to the Museum, make sure you visit their website to check out all hours, dates, etc.

Ellwood House

While visiting DeKalb recently, we looked in at Ellwood House. Our timing was a little off as the guided tour wasn’t until 1pm and we had arrived early in the morning but the Visitors Center was open so we took advantage of the opportunity to view some of the exhibits on display.

The Ellwood mansion was originally built for Isaac Ellwood, who, with his business partner, Joseph Glidden, established the world’s first barbed wire factory. By 1879, 50 million pounds of barbed wire were being produced annually and Ellwood became one of the wealthiest men in Illinois.

The Mansion, part of the 1,200-acre estate, was home to three generations of the Ellwood family and was gifted to the Dekalb Park District in 1965 by Mrs. May Ellwood and her three children. It is now the Ellwood House Museum.

Isaac Ellwood’s wife, Harriet Miller Ellwood, loved to collect curios which included family heirlooms, rare books and manuscripts, historic and scientific novelties, old pewter and chinaware, war relics, geological specimens, minerals, rare gems, butterfly specimens, shells and souveniers from her extensive travels. In 1905, a private museum was constructed in the grounds, to house Mrs. Ellwood’s collection. An inventory of her collections made before her death listed nearly 500 objects.

Also nearby is another adorable Little House that was originally built in 1891 as a contractor’s model and parade float. William Ellwood acquired it to use as a playhouse for his daughters Jessie Jean and Harriet Elise. It was later handed down to various grandchildren and was eventually given away but, in 1973, the Oderkirk family returned the Little House to the Ellwood Estate.

Isaac Ellwood and his son Will were successful importers and breeders of French Percheron draft horses. Their horse farm, Ellwood Green, was also part of the estate. The farm, once located near the Visitors Center, itself converted from an old five-car garage, included sales barns, enormous stables and a business office, which have since been torn down. The only thing remaining is the stone water tower that supplied fresh water to the stables.

Isaac Ellwood’s business of barbed wire and his passion for horses seemed rather strange bedfellows, especially when viewing some of the exhibits in the Visitors Center, which included samples of the wire that his company produced and a collection of remedies for horse injuries caused by barbed wire, accompanied by a rather gruesome advertisement for same. The expression on the horse’s face definitely does not tally with the severity of its wounds. He seems to be taking the whole thing very calmly.

Tours of the Ellwood House Museum are offered on Wednesday thru Saturday at 1pm and 3pm. Photography is allowed inside the building so I’m hoping to pay a return visit sometime in the future.

Thursday Doors – In Oshkosh

We weren’t sure if the Apostle Clock at the Oshkosh Public Museum was fully functional so we waited very patiently for the little doors to open and sure enough, when the angel at the top tapped out 11-o-clock on the chimes, they opened and out came Jesus and the Apostles.

My contribution to Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors Photo Challenge.

Flying High

We recently spent a few days in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and our first stop was at the EAA Aviation Museum. We were there ahead of the big Air Show this weekend, so we had the place almost to ourselves and everything was looking in tip-top shape. This was rather an apt beginning to our trip as we’d just learned that our grandson had recently earned a well-deserved promotion to Technical Sergeant in the USAF. And my husband, who was also in the Air Force, received a warm welcome from greeters at the Museum with the most sincere thanks for his service.

I was glad of this opportunity to take pictures of something other than nature for a change, and this certainly was different and presented quite a challenge, the subjects being large and not always in the best place to get a clear shot of the entire thing, if you get my meaning.

There are more than 200 historic planes in this collection as well as many galleries and displays, so you can easily spend the whole day here. And there is also a section specifically for kids, with games and various amusements all related to aviation.

There is a small nature area in the grounds (you might know I couldn’t leave without photographing something to do with nature!) but by this time we were quite exhausted so we called it a day.

Back To The Ice Age….

And I’m not talking about Chicago winters but the new Ice Age exhibit at Brookfield Zoo. There are more that 30 life-sized animatronics on display and the exhibit, which will be open through October 30th, is free with a general admission ticket.

I suspect that, back in the day, the actual animals looked a lot scarier than the rather cuddly creatures that are meant to depict them. They appear more like something out of a Disney movie but then I suppose they didn’t want to scare the youngsters although, to be honest, not much seems to faze the toddlers of today. In fact, the parents were, in some instances, more enthusiastic about the exhibit than the kids.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – One Story, Lots of Images.

OK, I know this is not what Ann-Christine had in mind for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week but if you really want to see an interesting take on the One Image/One Story theme you can do no better than visit her website. I already had a story to tell but it comes with rather more than a single image. The thing that I most wanted to see while we were staying in Duluth was one of the big cargo ships going under the historic aerial lift bridge. We checked the shipping schedule and hurried down to the harbor early in the morning on our second day in the hopes of catching the arrival of ‘American Integrity’. There had been a storm the night before so it wasn’t surprising that the ship was quite a bit behind schedule and we passed the time walking through Canal Park, up to the lighthouse and along the waterfront.

After a couple of hours, the Integrity appeared, a speck on the horizon, but having made its way towards the harbor, it slowed to a halt and remained tantalizingly at anchor, two miles out. We waited for what seemed like an age, and then, not knowing how long it planned on staying there, we decided to take a chance and go for lunch at a nearby restaurant. It must have been a fairly long lunch because by the time we got back to the bridge, the Integrity had already come in. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. Even the sight of a seagull doing a dance routine on the jetty failed to raise my spirits.

Since the bridge plays such an important part in what I was hoping to see, this would probably be a good time to say something about it. According to Wikipedia, it was originally built as a transporter bridge in 1905 and was converted to a vertical lift bridge in 1929. The bridge can be raised to its full height of 135ft in about a minute and is raised approximately 5,000 times per year. The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the bridge a National Historic Landmark in 2017.

Although I enjoyed the rest of our stay in Duluth, I couldn’t help ruminating on the fact that I’d missed my opportunity to see one of the big ships. On our final day, we took another look at the shipping schedule which showed that the Hon. James L. Oberstar was due to leave port that afternoon. Although we’d already seen the bridge being raised for several sight-seeing boats, this wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. But this was more like it!

With warning signals clanging, the bridge began its ascent as spectators hurried to watch the ship make its approach. As the Oberstar cleared the bridge, the ship sounded its horn, which was loud enough, but when the bridge horn sounded a reply it was absolutely ear-splitting. Long-short-short is known as the Captains Salute but on November 10th, the anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the Lift Bridge exchanges a special salute, long-long-long-short-short, with the SS Arthur M. Anderson in honor of the Fitzgerald and her crew, all 29 of whom were lost. The Anderson was the last freighter to have contact with the Fitzgerald before it sank and was the first on scene to search for survivors.

I couldn’t help thinking about the Edmund Fitzgerald as I watched Oberstar churning out into the waters of Lake Superior. It’s difficult to imagine, on calm days, lake waters being rough enough to sink a ship of this size, but the Great Lakes can be treacherous. It must have been the sea-faring genes in me (both my grandfather and great-uncle were sailors in the early 1900’s) but I felt quite choked up as the Oberstar pulled away.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Interesting Architecture

This week, Tina is looking for Interesting Architecture as the theme for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I have featured the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, Illinois in previous posts but when I think of interesting architecture my mind automatically goes to this place and I can’t help but refer back to it. The Mandir is so unlike anything else that we see here in the Chicago area.

Apart from the beautiful design and incredible craftsmanship of the structure, it’s interesting to see how its appearance changes with the light, depending on the time of day or even year. There are moments when it looks mellow and mystical and at others, when the midday sun beats down on it and the air is sharp and clear, the white exterior is almost blinding.

Hand carved in India from Italian marble and Turkish limestone, the sculpted pieces, 40,000 in total, were then shipped to Bartlett where they were assembled on a 27-acre lot over a period of 16 months. The Mandir was officially inaugurated in 2004.

In 2004, the complex was awarded the Chicago Building Congress Merit Award and has been recognized by The American Institute of Architects as one of the 150 Great Places in Illinois. The Mandir, previously closed because of the COVID pandemic, has now reopened its doors to visitors.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Sand or Dirt

This week, Cee is featuring Sand or Dirt in her Fun Foto Challenge. What could be more fun than playing in the sand? It’s the simple things in life that bring us the most joy.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – A Day In My Week

Amy is asking us to choose a day in our week for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The busiest day in my week spent visiting Duluth was when we took a train ride along the north shore, but first we decided to check out the city from a more lofty elevation. Enger Tower, perched high above Duluth on the scenic Skyline Parkway, gives a grand view of the surrounding area. This 80-foot tall, 5 story observation tower was built as a tribute to Norwegian businessman and philanthropist, Bert Enger, and was first dedicated by Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha of Norway in 1939. It has undergone some restoration work since then and it is now open to anyone willing to climb the stairs. I made it to the top and was rewarded with a panoramic view of the Twin Ports including the aerial lift bridge and further, towards North Shore.

At the foot of Enger Tower lies Enger Park and within that is a small Japanese Garden featuring a Peace Bell, the gift of Duluth’s sister city of Ohara-Isumi.

After our tour of Enger Park we drove back into the heart of the city to the historic Duluth Train Depot. The station was built in 1892 and served 7 different rail lines. It now houses the Lake Superior Railroad Museum which was opened in 1973. From here you can take a ride on one of the scenic railroad excursion trains, but more on that in a bit. First we checked out everything in the museum, inside the trains and out.

We ended our day with a 90-minute ride, with drinks and nibbles, in the observation car of the Duluth Zephyr, along the shoreline to just past the Glensheen Mansion. The trip, made at a sedate pace, gave plenty of opportunity to see the sights in comfort.

Pull Up A Seat – For Halloween

Some spooky characters Pulled Up A Seat and joined the party at our Fall Family Festival earlier this month. Everyone looks forward to this annual event as it’s one of the few times in the year that all the familly gets together and, as usual, our daughter and her husband made the party a special Halloween treat for young and old alike.