Frontier Museum, VA Early American School House

[mgbinspect]

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[David Meiland]

Great photos all around. Thanks for posting them.

[mgbinspect]

Great photos all around. Thanks for posting them.

My pleasure. I really wasn't sure whether folks would appreciate so many threads and photos, or find them annoying.

It is insightful to be reminded of our humble beginnings. These homes reflect some of the best building techniques then available, limited budgets and a desperate will to be free and survive.

It's history at it's finest. My family lines cross through two families that were on the Mayflower - the Edgertons and the Browns. Our family holds a leather bound journal - a brief account of their journey from Ohio to Washington State, where the Edgertons settled in Yakima to raise sheep and grow apples. All during my childhood, every year we'd recieve a huge crate of golden apples from thier farm. The Browns also established a college out there, the name of which escapes me now - there is one there and one in Boston. The account of the journal was pretty grim and a daily entry usually simply stated their progress (typically seven to twenty miles), the weather, conditions and who died.

As I travel a lot by air, I have to endure shameful displays of customers blistering airline ticket folks over twenty minute delays, etc., I always think of how spoiled we have become. The journey to Washington State back then, if conditions were favorable, took about three months, and people died. Then, there were nightmare trips like the Donners, who were caught in the Rockies due to setting out a bit late and getting caught in blizzards, etc. Again, folks died and they had to resort to eating the dead to survive. Now, we do it in about three hours, nibbling a bag of nuts, sipping a coffee, watching a movie and oh yes, listening to someone demonstrate how truly ungrateful they are.

Quality of life, when it comes right down to it, is a matter of perspective and little more. As Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it, "Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be." Life is good...

[Marc]

Is there any chance that any of those old homes would be available as a Bed & Breakfast? It might stretch the imagination some.

Marc

[mgbinspect]

Nagative. It's a living museum that closes at dark. And, with no heating and cooking fuel other than wood, I'm guessing the insurers would never allow it. Nice thought though.

[Tom Raymond]

I like the juxtaposition of the old timbers, the shiney new floor planks and the wheelchair ramp.

[mgbinspect]

You may actually raised a good point, Tom. What if, and I truly mean no disrespect at all, for the sake of authenticity, handicap access rules were not made applicable? Shouldn't everyone experience things as they would have truly been? (Not to mention what it would do for the economy, a minimum of two stout persons to lift folks up to the porch or assist them up stairs. We're talkin' a reduction in unemployment here. It all seems particularly fitting, timely and politically correct. [^])