Category Archives: Attraction

Flower Power Tower

Posted on by
Reply

With departure on a fair-sized road trip planned for Friday, there wasn’t much time for blog-feeding adventure this week, and I anticipated using a canned post. Then I remembered seeing some photos of an interesting but unfamiliar tower recently. It is inside Cox Arboretum MetroPark which is close enough that I do drive by it on occasion. I have visited the park in the past but that was before the tower was built and it isn’t visible from the street. I decided to stop by, grab a few pictures, and put off turning to canned posts for another week.

There is much more to the park than the tower and I certainly could not ignore the other attractions in real life. But I can in making a short blog post. I paused for a while on one of the benches at the base then climbed the tower’s 81 steps admiring some of the cool construction on the way up.

There are, as advertised, some great views from the top. And a chance to look over more eye-catching construction on the way down.

I snapped a picture of one of those flower-filled pots beside the benches while topside and pictures of some of its components back at ground level. Many more flowers are waiting to be photographed and there are plenty of trails to follow while seeking them out. 

A House Twice Storied

Posted on by
2

I have heard it said that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written in this house. It was not. Until recently, I had not heard that it was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book. It was.

Although the book was not written here, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, did live in the house at one time and the house has long borne her name. It has just reopened after an extensive restoration that recognizes its importance both as the Beecher family home and as a tavern and boarding house a century later.

There was a ribbon cutting for the restored Harriet Beecher Stowe House last Friday with special events continuing through the weekend. I missed the “Housewarming Weekend” but did reserve a ticket for the first regularly scheduled tour on Thursday. The site is closed Monday through Wednesday. I arrived early enough to look over the many informative panels placed around the grounds. Note the National Register of Historic Places plaque with both of the building’s claims to fame listed, beside the new entrance ramp.

Executive Director Christina Hartlieb was our guide, and, despite it being the first “regularly scheduled” tour following the reopening, it was pretty obvious that this was not her first time as conductor. I’m guessing that the “Housewarming Weekend” had given her and other guides ample experience. It is also the case that much of the information provided is about the house’s residents and unchanged by the restoration.

The house was built by Lane Seminary in 1833 as a home for its new president, Lyman Beecher.  The Seminary is a most interesting part of history in its own right. Particularly the slavery-related debates of 1834 and a related mass exodus of students that has been called the “first major academic freedom incident in America”. The tour began in the parlor where 25-year-old Harriet Elisabeth Beecher became Mrs. Calvin Stowe in 1836. The original part of the house has been restored to its 1840 appearance. A strip of original wallpaper once covered by a temporary wall has been saved and copied. In the kitchen, the original beehive oven and its surroundings have been retained.

Even though Harriet lived in Cincinnati for less than twenty years, it was here, with slavery in operation just across the river and fallout from it everywhere she looked, that the memories that became Uncle Tom’s Cabin were formed. In an upstairs hallway, beside a section of original brick wall intentionally left exposed, there is a photo of the Hartford, CT, statue of Stowe’s meeting with Lincoln. There is no recording and no proof that Lincoln actually said, “So you’re the little lady who started this big war”, but I like to think he did.

The Monfort family lived in the house from 1865 to 1930 and in 1908 they built a large addition. The addition’s exterior is currently painted white to distinguish it from the original building’s yellow. This was their formal dining room. During the 1930s and ’40s, it served as the Edgemont Tavern with a listing in The Negro Motorist Green Book. During that same period, the obviously updated second floor served as a boarding house. As a long-term residence rather than an overnight stop for tourists, only the tavern portion appeared in The Green Book. By coincidence, a traveling Green Book exhibit recently opened at the nearby National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and was the subject of a previous blog post.

So, no, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not written here but its author did live here, and a lot of other pretty darned important stuff also happened here. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is back and ready to let you peek at 1840 and a little 1940 too.

Wassup, Big Boy?

Posted on by
Reply

Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants have been in the news quite a bit recently. In fact, when I sat down to write this article yesterday, a pointer to this photo essay was waiting in my email. It seems likely that the essay, like this article and my Friday outing, was inspired by not particularly cheerful reports such as this one from a few weeks ago. It was that article and other news of restaurant closings that prompted me to finally check out the museum that opened in 2018 inside Frisch’s Mainliner.

The Mainliner, Cincinnati’s first year-round drive-in, opened in 1942 and was named for an airplane. Several sources, including the Mainliner’s own signage, identify that airplane as a tri-motor but I think not. The plane that those sources are almost certainly referring to is the Ford Trimotor which was produced from 1922 to 1933. Boeing’s DC-3, which United Air Lines actually called the Mainliner when launched in 1937, would have been the most well-known passenger plane when the restaurant opened. The plane on the iconic Mainliner sign certainly looks a lot more like a DC-3 than a Ford Trimotor, and, despite the nose being a little extra pointy, I’m not aware of it ever having more than two propellers. At present it has none. I do, however, have a short video of the sign “at speed” from a few years ago. I’m sure there are more and better videos online.

The Mainliner was remodeled when the museum went in and has the latest generation of the Big Boy statue standing by the door. There are pictures here and here of previous generations on display a few miles away at the American Sign Museum. A cool mural greets customers right inside that door.

I sat at the counter and placed my order before walking over to the museum area. Only then did I realize that it contained what appeared to be some quite usable classic seating areas. There were people at one of the museum tables when I left.

In addition to the throwback seating, there are several signs and cabinets filled with artifacts in the museum. Among the artifacts was a reminder that once upon a time people might look for something to help them “dial the right number every time”.

I was probably still using a dial telephone the last time I had a Big Boy but it seemed the right thing to order today. Has corporate ownership brought a decline in quality that others say they see? Maybe, but maybe not. The sandwich was pretty much as I remember it although my memories aren’t very recent. I sensed the same slight understaffing that I feel in just about every restaurant I visit these days. No more. No less.

As I wrote this, it occurred to me that Frisch’s has been in my life longer than any chain restaurant. Although it’s no longer there, a Frisch’s restaurant sat at the edge of the seat of my home county. It was the place where, maybe once a year, the band bus would stop on the way home from an away game. When my friends and I began driving, it marked one end of our Saturday night cruising route. An A&W rootbeer stand marked the other. When I got my first co-op job in college, a Frisch’s was just about the only place within walking distance for lunch. The one at right is within walking distance of my current home and I stopped there on my Saturday afternoon walk. Rather than a Big Boy statue, this door is guarded by one of the Mr. Redlegs sculptures that were placed around the area as part of the Cincinnati Reds 150th Anniversary Celebration in 2019. Inside, a localized (Mason hosts the Cincinnati Open ATP Tournament) mural hangs on the wall. A big reason that I had not had a Big Boy in so long was not that I never patronize Frisch’s but that when I do I almost always have a fish sandwich. On Saturday I reverted to form.

I’m certainly no fan of corporations taking over privately held businesses. Maybe it was a decline in quality or some accountant’s idea of improved efficiency that led to those closures. Personally though, I’m more concerned about those missing props on the Mainliner sign.

New Stuff to Look At

Posted on by
1

New exhibits opened at two Cincinnati museums yesterday. A major expansion at the American Sign Museum doubles the length of its sign-filled Main Street and The Negro Motorist Green Book finally makes it to the National Underground Freedom Center. The two exhibits simultaneously became available to the public when both museums opened their doors at 10:00 on Saturday. American Sign Museum members, of which I am one, were able to see the addition at a ribbon-cutting celebration on Friday evening.

While awaiting the planned ceremonies, attendees were treated to refreshments and entertained by the Rob Allgeyer Trio as excitement built. We could look into, but not enter, the newly filled space beyond the uncut ribbon.

Speeches were few and reasonably short. Executive Director David Dupeecoul and Museum Founder Tod Swormstedt spent much of their time thanking folks for their help in getting the addition funded, built, and filled. Mayor Aftab Pureval’s brief speech was, in noting what having the country’s largest public sign museum means to Cincinnati, also one of thanks.

When ribbon-cutting time arrived, Tod and Aftab were joined by ASM Board Chair Michael Mattingly. The intention was to cut the ribbon in synch with the signs being illuminated but that turned out to be a little time-consuming so a little watching and waiting was required.

More music awaited in the new space. The first group encountered was Jake Speed and the Freddies. I believe the fellows with the chairs are Mechlem & Ruzsa and the couple standing is StringDaze but it could be the other way around.

And there was more food, too. This lite bite station happens to be under the actual canopy from Cincinnati’s Famous Maisonette restaurant. Another member preview took place back in May when painters were still working on the storefronts. I chatted with the Colorado fellow who was working on the Maisonette. At that time it looked like this. I only ate once at the Maisonette but ate several times at its sister restaurant, La Normandy. When I mentioned this to the painter, he told me that he planned to put that name on an upper window and there it is.

I also captured these signs during that May preview. The East End Cafe sign was lit but the area was rather empty otherwise. The Lenny’s window was painted but empty and the Full Service was still in process with the pattern laying nearby.

The Ioka Theater marquee and all the signs around it sure look good now but it was definitely a work in process back in May. The marquee fronts a real theater that will be used for presentations.

There is a lot more to the expansion than Main Street but that is where I found myself standing awestruck a few times Friday evening. I believe I’ve seen something new on every visit to this museum even when nothing new had been added. Now there is a whole new section to explore and some things have changed in existing areas as a result of the expansion. My next visit is going to be a lot of fun and so will several after that.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was supposed to open its nationwide tour in Cincinnati in the fall of 2020. The tour was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic declared in the spring of that year so that it is ending rather than starting in Cincinnati. On its opening day, Candacy Taylor, the exhibit’s curator, would be giving a tour to museum members then making a presentation to everyone interested. I looked forward to hearing Taylor speak for the third time.

The members-only tour was in process when I arrived and the exhibit, though open, was congested. I opted to fill the time by revisiting other parts of the museum and taking a few pictures.

At 11:00, Taylor was introduced to the audience for what she called “an author conversation”. Rather than delivering prepared remarks, she answered questions. Almost everyone in attendance seemed familiar with her book and probably half, having taken part in the morning’s tour, were familiar with the exhibit. There was no shortage of good questions.

The mentioned book, for any who don’t know, is Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America which I reviewed here. I obtained my copy when I heard Taylor speak in Indianapolis in February of 2020. That was the second time I heard her speak but was probably the first time we actually met. I had a pleasant chat with her today before the presentation.

I entered The Negro Motorist Green Book exhibit after the presentation. The Green Book identified places where Negro travelers were welcome as they were decidedly not welcome everywhere. It was published from 1936 through 1967. It was not the only such book but none of the others were anywhere near as popular or successful.

The Green Book was created by Victor Green and its name comes from him rather than from the book’s color. Among the artifacts in the exhibit is a 1959 letter from Green soliciting listings and advertising. The earliest editions of The Green Book focused on New York but it ultimately grew to include all sorts of businesses throughout the entire nation.

The chauffeur’s hat is not directly related to The Green Book but to the Jim Crow era which made the book necessary. I recognized it instantly from a story Taylor told in Indianapolis and which is included in Overground Railroad. Ron Burford, the man quoted, was Taylor’s stepfather.

Much of the exhibit features businesses that were listed in The Green Book. “Then and now” images often appear of those still in existence.

Road trips on Route 66 or any other highway do not generate the same sort of nostalgia for people of color as they do for others but there are a couple of Route 66 connections in the exhibit. One is an Esso quote from Route 66 historian and author Joe Sonderman. Part of The Green Book‘s success can be attributed to the fact that Esso stations carried it. The cash register is from the historic Threatt Filling Station currently being restored near Luther, Oklahoma, on Route 66.

The Negro Motorist Green Book will be at the Freedom Center through October 13, 2024. The Main Street extension and other additions will be at the American Sign Museum forever.

Big Guy in Mercer County

Posted on by
Reply

Celina, Ohio, the seat of Mercer County, isn’t far from the center line of the swath of totality that swept across the state during the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. The original plan called for the new giant at the Mercer County Fairgrounds to be completed on the same day but the eclipse was preceded by heavy rain that resulted in a one-day delay. Any disappointment that caused was instantly erased when the 27-foot wooden sculpture was unveiled.

The sculpture is the work of Bear Hollow Wood Carvers of French Lick, Indiana, who had nine carvers from five different states on-site in the project. This is the second sculpture of similar size that Bear Hollow has constructed. The first was built a year ago in their hometown. There is a good overview of the Mercer County project here.

Having visited installations of Thomas Dambo’s trolls in Clermont, KY, and  Dayton, OH. I couldn’t help but make comparisons. They are quite similar in size and appearance. However, with “Wood Carvers” being part of the name, it’s not surprising that Bear Hollow’s creations have more carved details.

On the afternoon of the day I took these pictures, Mercer County Fair Manager Cara Muhlenkamp and Bear Hollow Wood Carvers co-owner Jason Emmons were on hand to give the giant a name  After two months of nominations and voting, the name Nelson won out over many others. I was not there for the announcement but do have a link to the video. In the picture of the hand in the previous panel, a glimpse can be had of what Muhlenkamp refers to as the “cutest little tushie” in the video.

I visited the giant on Tuesday by adding about thirty miles to my normal drive to Greenville. I also added a new name to my list of personally approved breakfast stops. The Bay Restaurant has good food, good service, a great view, and is conveniently located for both fishers and giant hunters.

Mound Cold War Discovery Center

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t know that rainy days were actually made for museums but the two do fit together nicely. A visit to the Mound Cold War Discovery Center was a very nice fit for this week’s rainy Friday. Before stumbling upon a reference to the Miamisburg, Ohio, museum, I had no idea of the area’s role in both the Cold War and the “hot war” that preceded it.

When I first read — or possibly heard — that there was a museum nearby dedicated to nuclear research and development, I pictured a musty warehouse-type place with some old lab equipment on display. What I found was an excellent presentation of history and science put together by Dayton History. The complex may have once contained some unattractive buildings but the museum is housed in an inviting former administration building built in the 1980s.

The Manhattan Project started in New York, but it soon involved locations throughout the entire country.

As noted in one of the photos above, the Dayton Project was responsible for the separation and purification of the plutonium used in “Gadget” and “Fat Man”. “Gadget” was the bomb exploded in the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945. “Fat Man” was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. “Little Boy”, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, used enriched uranium rather than plutonium. That’s “Fat Man” in the photo at left. “Bockscar”, the plane that dropped “Fat Man”, is displayed at the Air Force Museum in Dayton along with a full-size replica of the bomb.

Construction of the first seventeen buildings comprising Mound Laboratory began almost immediately after World War II ended. The facility opened in early 1948 to support atomic weapons production.

One section of the museum offers some general science information without any obvious direct ties to Mound Laboratory. Perhaps its purpose is to tamp down visitors’ concerns over strolling about an area where radioactivity was once a major feature.

Yes, it does look like letting visitors know that a little radiation never hurt anybody just might be a goal.

Due mostly to the invention of the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator which uses radioactive fuel to generate electricity, Mound Laboratory made significant contributions to a variety of ventures into space. Eventually, all of its missions were ended or moved elsewhere and the complex is now an industrial park much like those in other towns.

Anyone unfamiliar with the area and wondering where the laboratory got its name can probably figure it out with a glance out the museum’s front door. Read about that here.

Southern Ohio Museum

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s make it four. With nothing planned for the week following a string of three museum visits, my thoughts naturally turned to extending the streak. Museum visit number one was the result of an online article, number two happened because of a friend’s suggestion, and number three came from a search for “Cincinnati museums”. Thinking to extend the range along with extending the streak, I searched for “southern Ohio museums” and found not only several museums in that area but one with that exact name.

A sunny day was all it took to get me to head to the Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth, Ohio. Without question, my willingness to make the two-hour drive was boosted by the fact that Portsmouth has a mighty fine brewery and an outstanding collection of Robert Dafford murals.

A small group of students were being given a tour of the museum’s lower gallery when I arrived and I briefly tried to eavesdrop on their guide but soon gave that up as a bad idea and headed upstairs. Here the displays are mostly semi-permanent. Many items displayed are from the museum’s permanent collection but may change from time to time. The photos are of works by Ohio artists Gretchen Stevens Cochran, Craig McDaniel, and Clarence Holbrook Carter. Everything in the museum has an Ohio connection of some sort.

“Art of the Ancients” is the only truly permanent exhibit in the museum. Thousands of artifacts from the Adena, Hopewell, and other indigenous cultures are displayed here. The museum occupies the former headquarters of the Security Central National Bank of Portsmouth and some of the bank’s coin-related trim can be seen in the third photo. In that same photo, Gretchen Stevens Cochran’s “Bounty or Burden” can be seen in the background.

When I returned to the first floor, the students were wrapping up their tour at the far end of the gallery. This space is used for temporary exhibits and is currently occupied by “The Power of the Object“. Maureen Cadogan’s collection of objects from “the journey and experience of African American people” is augmented with several quilts made by neighbor Holly Davis. The exhibit is arranged chronologically with some of the oldest items in the collection being the slave collars in this photo.

The poster on the wall in the grouping just beyond the collars really drew my interest because of some personal memories. The text beside the poster says “Though Minstrel shows gradually disappeared from professional theaters, its impact and imagery continued… well into the twentieth century.” To that, I can attest. My high school staged minstrel shows as late as 1964 or ’65. I recall two of these shows and a school yearbook indicates these were during my freshman and senior years. There is no information reported about the actual shows.  The indications I refer to are individual students listing the shows among their activities. I listed participation during my freshman year only. I recall being in the chorus and a short skit but I’m sure that by the time of that second show, it had become apparent to all that my presence in any vocal group was not helpful. I have found no photos of these shows. The closest is a small picture of a parade presumedly promoting the 1964/5 show. I believe that is me carrying the bass drum.

I also have some vague memories of seeing items similar to those in the mammy-themed display in the homes of relatives and friends. I have less vague memories of an alligator pencil holder like this one at my grandparents’ house. I do not have any personal memories of the toys in the third photo but a recent online discussion about a real-life version of the Baby Rack game that a friend encountered while researching amusement parks made this pressed steel version jump out at me. Brinkman Engineering Company is now Brinkman Tool & Die and no longer manufactures toys of any sort.

There is indeed power in these objects. They clearly can bring back memories including some that aren’t particularly welcome. It is also pretty obvious that they can make things outside our personal experience more real. Objects near the exhibit’s end provide evidence that as crappy as race relations sometimes seem, they have improved.

I’m sure I would have enjoyed visiting the Southern Ohio Museum regardless of what was in the temporary gallery but I’m very happy that I learned of the museum before “The Power of the Object” goes away. That will happen in just a few days, on March 27. Other exhibits will follow, of course, and I now have a reason on beyond murals and brews to visit Portsmouth.

Greater Cincinnati Police Museum

Posted on by
Reply

For the third week in a row, I’m posting about visiting a new-to-me museum. The first of the three (Small Wonders (And More)) was triggered by an online reference and the second (Miami Valley Veterans Museum) by a friend’s spontaneous suggestion but this one is completely on me. I say that I use canned posts here when my life is either too busy or too boring. My life was not too busy this week but, without some purposeful action on my part, it would have been too boring and I’d have posted something from the warehouse. That purposeful action was little more than typing “Cincinnati museums” into a search engine and scanning the results.

Quite a few lists turned up, and there were several museums that appeared on nearly all of them. One came from TripAdvisor, one of my favorite providers of crowd-sourced lists. The Greater Cincinnati Police Museum is currently number one on their list of Cincinnati Museums when sorted by “traveler ranking” and sixth when sorted by “traveler favorites”. More importantly for my purposes, it was the only top twelve entry by either sorting method that I had not visited.

I soon corrected that and soon learned that those high marks at TripAdvisor were well deserved. The museum is on the second floor and, while things are well-marked outside, figuring that out took a little doing once inside. A sign that stood in the lobby had recently been stolen and there was universal agreement when I commented, “That sure was ballsy.” Potential issues with the free on-street parking in front of the museum are avoided by displaying a dated tag provided with admission. When I started toward the elevator with my tag, a fellow whose name I failed to get volunteered to take it down for me. I was impressed before I even looked at the first exhibit.

“This is why the museum exists,” Ed, my guide, told me when we did reach that first exhibit. I had seen several pictures of Handsome over the years so had some idea of what he meant. Cincinnati’s first “police dog” was rescued from the city’s rough and tumble riverfront in the last years of the nineteenth century and served the department until his death in 1911. Handsome’s story, including numerous captures, is told here.

The word “Greater” in the museum’s name is significant. The museum honors not only the City of Cincinnati Police Department but many other law enforcement agencies in southern Ohio, southeast Indiana, and northern Kentucky. It first opened in 2002 on 8th Street on the west side of downtown then moved to its current Reading Road location in 2015. At the time of the move, bricks paving a walkway and inscribed with donor names were rescued and now line this hallway beneath rows of historic photos and certificates.

Most if not all of the people working at the museum are retired police officers. Both Ed and Rick, who split guiding me on what was essentially a personal tour, were. Ed mentioned that he had spent a few years on a SWAT team as we looked over the associated display. Rick may have also spent time with SWAT but I don’t know that. I do know that both of these guys were pretty familiar with much of the gear on display.

All police gear displayed in the museum is obsolete but some things are more obsolete than others. When the Civil War ended, Cincinnati was able to pick up plenty of surplus uniforms at a great price with only a change of buttons required to outfit the police. Alexander Bell patented the telephone in March of 1876. In September 1879, the first police telephone exchange in the world went live in Cincinnati.

Of course, there are lots of guns (all disabled) displayed in the museum along with other tools of the trade such as breathalizers, radar guns, and fingerprinting equipment. That communication console is a little more modern than the one my cousins frequently staffed when their dad was a police chief in Indiana but looks pretty crude when compared to the multi-screened internet-connected rig that my son operates as a police dispatcher in California.

There is one notable exception to the claim that everything in the museum is obsolete. Posters for the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” are kept current. Seeing them here reminded me of the days when reading these was what you did while waiting in line to buy stamps or get a package weighed. One of several reasons that they are no longer displayed is that the wall space is better used to promote the purchase of commemorative stamps and the like. The posters are still there but they are now kept in a binder behind the counter available for “on demand” viewing. Just like on the FBI website.

The pictured magazine is kept in protective custody but there is another copy nearby where the story of “Cincinnati’s Model Police Force” of 1957 can be accessed. The Greater Cincinnati Police Museum is open from 10:00 to 4:00 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Miami Valley Veterans Museum

Posted on by
1

It was during September’s Waco Aircraft Company centennial that I first became aware of the Miami Valley Veterans Museum sitting about a hundred yards south of Historic WACO Field. My friend Terry and I attended the centennial and have talked ever since about visiting the museum. We finally got it done on Thursday. I was surprised to see a dozen or so cars in the lot when I arrived a little ahead of Terry and a little ahead of the museum’s 10:00 opening. I initially thought I might have the opening time wrong but soon realized that the cars that beat me there belonged to volunteers taking care of things inside. This place clearly has a dedicated and energetic crew. During my brief wait, I snapped the picture at right and noted that the building’s signage included the first USSF insignia I had seen in the wild.

The museum was established in 2009 and spent its early years in the Masonic Building in downtown Troy. It moved here in 2021. One of the first things encountered on entering the museum is the History in a Box series. These are portable displays that are used in presentations at schools and such. Each box represents a different period beginning with pioneer days and currently ending with the Vietnam War. Assembling a box for the Middle East conflicts is in progress.

There are several other exhibits in the lobby area but the bulk of the displays are in a huge room behind it. Women are well represented throughout the museum but because March is Women’s History Month some items related to women in the military are displayed just outside the entrance to the main exhibit area. The 42-foot “Veterans Marching Through Time” mural is just inside the entrance. 

Exhibits in the big room are arranged chronologically beginning with the pioneer period. Marine uniforms from 1776 and 1863 can be seen in the first picture. The drum visible in both pictures is from the War of 1812.

These two photos are of more or less random items that caught my eye. The genuine “bolt action” long gun was handmade by the Viet Cong but doesn’t appear all that crude until you get close. The “ITALY SURRENDERS!” headline stood out because it is a lot more common to see headlines announcing the Japanese or German surrender. That’s quite understandable since those surrenders actually ended campaigns whereas defeating Italy was just a step on the way to victory in Europe.

Terry and  I had heard good things about the museum but it exceeded our high expectations in both the number and range of artifacts displayed. The friendliness and energy of the volunteers we met were also quite impressive. Open 10:00-2:00 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. There is no admission charge but donations are welcomed.

Small Wonders (And More)

Posted on by
1

It was several years ago that I first heard about a collection of miniatures in Maysville, Kentucky. I made a half-hearted attempt to find it one day but that was before smartphones, or at least before I learned how to use one, and I failed completely. A recent online mention again brought the collection to mind and this time there was enough information to easily locate it. I filled a wet and idle Wednesday, perfect for being inside a museum, with a visit. Those trip-triggering miniatures are housed at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center along with two other major permanent exhibits and a research library.

One of those permanent exhibits is the Old Pogue Experience which provides a look at the area’s bourbon history. That’s where I began my visit. The photo at the top of the page is of the museum’s main entrance. Old Pogue has its own entrance although the two buildings are connected by a second-floor walkway. Production has not quite been continuous (Remember that Volstead Act thing?) but fifth and sixth generations of the family operate Old Pogue Distillery today with tastings available at the museum. The model of the 1910 Pogue Distillery could be considered a preview of coming attractions.

The Wormald Gallery is the other section of the museum I was thinking of when I spoke of two major permanent exhibits in addition to the miniatures. It is a mixture of truly permanent and rotating displays of regional history.  Among the many displays are two devoted to major exports of the past: tobacco and Rosemary Clooney.

Backstage Hollywood – The Photographs of Bob Willoughby is on display in the museum’s Calvert Gallery through March 16. Willoughby is the first still photographer to be invited by movie studios to work behind the scenes. The exhibit features unstaged glimpses of the likes of Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and others from the 1950s and ’60s.

My decision to save the Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection for last was indirectly validated when a docent I was chatting with remarked that this is where people spend the most time. This model of the Catherine Palace is currently displayed in what might be considered the museum’s lobby area as a bit of a tease. I passed it on the way to the Backstage Hollywood exhibit then studied it closer on my return. The palace and all items in the miniature collection are said to be 1/12 scale.

Spenser House stands just inside the entrance of the main gallery of miniatures.

Local landmarks also get space in the collection. The Russell Theater, where The Stars Are Singing, with Rosemary Clooney, premiered in 1953, and the 1886 Cox Building are both still standing in downtown Maysville. After leaving the museum, I grabbed pictures (here and here) of both.

The whole world of Mother Goose doesn’t take up a lot of space here. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod are quite small and so is that contrary Mary. The pretty maids in a row, and in her arms, are even smaller.

The tinyness of displayed items is not always apparent in photos so I propped a real U.S. quarter up in front of some musical instruments. The diameter of the quarter is 0.955 inches or 24.26 millimeters.  I can only guess at the diameter of the valves on that trumpet.