Shelburne Museum - Vermont

August 2
Sunday

Not much sun in the Adirondacks and 12 degrees cooler today so put on long pants and headed for Vermont. Altho moose and caribou disappeared years ago, I did see deer crossing in front of me just as the signs said I would.

Coming out of New York's dense mountains into Vermont was like coming out of a dark room into the light with Lake Champlain in the distance.

I was in farm country again.

Vergennes is the first city I came to and was surprised to find it is the oldest city in Vermont. Est in 1766.

In 1893 the Vergennes Electric Company began a power generator at the falls to light the city.

This was just 15 years after Edison harnessed electricity for light.

Spent the night at an RV park in Shelburne, Vermont. I walked down the street to a good Chinese restaurant for dinner.  Interestingly some of the wines available at this restaurant were Kendall Jackson and Sutter Home. 

I was only in Shelburne because there was no RV park in Vergennes. I had intended only to spend the night but heard the park manager telling someone about their great museum.

The next morning began what would be two whole days of exploring the wonderful Shelburne Museum.

Electra Havemeyer Webb of the Dominoes Sugar family and her husband, a Vanderbilt, started the museum in 1947 as a place for some of their vast collection of Americana. The museum now contains over 150,000 pieces of Impressionist paintings,folk art, quilts and textiles, furniture, decorative arts, American paintings, and a great collection of artifacts dating from the 1600s. And in two days I think I saw every piece and photographed most of them.

I may get tired of museums by the time this trip is over but if they are all this wonderful, I doubt it.

Here is a small sample.

 

 Curly maple couch made by a Vermont furniture maker in the 1700s. So beautiful.....

 There was an entire floor devoted to Vermont furniture before 1850.

Did you know Grandma Moses didn't start painting in earnest until she was 78? There is hope for all of us. She died at 101 and in the interim  became a renowned American folk artist.

This round barn holds a large collection of  horse powered vehicles.

It is a village made up of 38 exhibit  buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated there.  

This horse shoe shaped building is much larger than I could fit on the page. It was specially built to house vintage carousel animals and a huge collection of  miniature hand carved circus figures.

The Prentis House was built in 1773 and filled with 17th and 18th century antiques.

The Ticonderoga is a 1906 sidewheel steamboat that operated on Lake Champlain until it was saved from the scrap heap in 1955 by Mrs. Webb who had it restored to its original grandeur.

Reception area

Dining room

This is the room of one of the paying passengers.

We could also go down into the crew quarters and engine room.

This early farmhouse had been gutted inside and remade into an art gallery.

 This was my favorite art gallery where you could just sit and take in the meaning of this powerful Andrew Wyeth painting.

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And of course the Hat and Textile Gallery took up most of my time beginning with its huge collection of quilts.

I had never seen a quilt this original in design, made in 1873 by two sisters, age 14 and 11. And all applique. Amazing!

This postage stamp quilt is made of 1" squares with my hand for scale.

An entire room of 17th and 18th century hats and vintage hat boxes.

Another entire room of samplers made mostly by 10 and 12 year old girls.  In the 17 and 1800's their education consisted mostly of sewing and cooking. 

Couldn't resist photographing each one for future showing.

And another entire room of a collection of 17 miniature dioramas made by Helen Bruce for Mrs. Webb over a period of years in the 1950s. 

I photographed each one and will have a showing when I get home for anyone interested.

Judy B. Dales art quilt exhibit: Ahead of the Curve

Each of her wonderful quilts was tagged with the inspiration
she used in creating the piece.

She said that altho she isn't a gardener herself she enjoys looking at gardens and wanted to show that wonderful time when everything is just starting to bud and bloom.

When the museum founder and her husband passed away, her children had this large home built on the museum grounds to house the entire contents of the couple's three story New York City apartment.

Each room is set up exactly as it was in their apartment.

Their large collection of Impressionist paintings is shown in each room.

I believe it was a Renoir over the mantel.
  

In this Mary Cassatt painting Electra Havemeyer Webb is seated on her mother's lap.

The train depot was moved here from its location in Shelburn when the railroad line changed its stop.

Each of the cars is fully furnished for luxurious travel or what passed for luxurious travel back in the day.

Sleeping cars, a dining car and bathrooms were all open for viewing.

The Webbs were avid hunters along with many friends who made excursions to Alaska and other wilderness areas  to bring back big game trophies.

Their collection is housed in this log cabin.

Electra Havemeyer Webb was a record holder for her Alaskan moose and two brown bears shot in 1935. Her records have not been broken.

Somehow, her enthusiasm for hunting is balanced by her enthusiasm for collecting beautiful art and antiques.



If your eyes aren't glazed over, or you may have simply fallen asleep looking at my very short two days spent in this most wonderful museum at Shelburn, Vermont.  If you are ever in the area and interested in history at all, you must go.  It's the Smithsonian of New England.