Monday, October 21, 2013

Antiques and Old Things in the Adirondack Mountains: How Life Used to Be

While we were up at
our lake house we
took an afternoon
side trip to a local
museum ... about life
in the Adirondack mountains.
 
Come along with me
for a quick snippet
of what I saw there:
 
The pictures above
are some examples of
the gorgeous and luxurious
hotels, built in the 1800's. 
 
Tourists would
flock there to get 
relief from the
summer heat.
 
Most of them, if not
all, are no longer standing.
 
(If you click on the photo it will make
it larger and easier to see)
 
These photos
show what it must
have been like for
the local residents
who didn't return to
the city to their
regular homes.
 
Snow shoes and tall
boots. Well, I have
some tall boots...
but I don't need snow
shoes like this!
 
 
The gown on the left
was a part of one woman's
wedding ensemble.
She was obviously
wealthy and owned
some very beautiful things.
 
To the right are examples
of badminton racquets!
 
They were very small
compared to what we use
today.

 
On the left is a doll
a young man made
for his younger sister,
right before he left
to help fight in the
civil war.
 
He never returned.
 
The photo on the right
shows a very small
section of one man's
hobby of wood carving.
 
He made approximately
420 mini chairs
that were replicas
of larger chairs.
No two were the same!
 
As an old friend of
mine used to say,
"Shrunk in the
dryer cute!"


 
 And here we have an
example of what the
men wore in the summer
time....that sport coat
is made of corduroy.
 
Hot!
 
To the right is an old
picnic or dining
set. The journey to
 the mountains probably
took much longer...by
stagecoach, rail, or by
the early 1900s, by car.
 
 
 Here is one of the
printed flyers to
report the news of a
hold up/robbery.
 
I found this particularly
interesting...maybe
because I had worked
in a newsroom in
my earlier pre-momma
days!
 
We take a lot
of things for
granted today.
 
Check out this old
wagon...this would
be today's version
of WalMart or
Target!
It came into town
and you went and
bought what you needed.
 
 
There are of course,
many things about the
past that I enjoy
that we no longer
have in today's  
modern world.
 
Antiques and old things.
They tell stories
about how life
used to be.
 
So fascinating
to me!
 
Hope you enjoyed
my mini tour
of the
Adirondack Mountain
museum!
 
Enjoy your day!
 
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

*sigh* LOVED every post here as I scrolled through so many back posts to get caught up with you, cuz! This museum - would have loved it. The Monster High rant - AGREE!!! Your retro Christmas goodies - makes me almost ready to get my own out! So many terrific treasures and I love your prose, too - great storytelling, milady!

I have to say, I used a pair of earrings that looked just like that vintage marcasite (sp?) brooch from your MIL in two of my floral creations. I usually look for a jeweler's mark before removing the back clip and repurposing them. Makes my teal chiffon lovelies just sparkle with elegance! Not on Etsy yet, though.
Look forward to your feedback on that score.
Joy!
Kathy

Anonymous said...

this was fun! things were so beautiful back in the day....beautifully made.