The South Riding RV Travels

April 8th - Shenandoah Valley Museum

April 7 was a rest day for us as we tried to sort out the contents of the RV and merge what we had brought with us.

April 8 we had a trip out to the new Museum of the Shenandoah Valley at Winchester about 20 miles south west of Shepherdstown. It had opened only three days earlier.

As with many museums it has an extensive exhibit of paintings both old and new. Few of them excited us and some were just hideous. But I did find a couple of gems by Jasper Cropsey.

There is also furniture and these two clocks in particular. You needed a grand house to have something like this. Many of the exhibits are less venerable than these but do represent the craftsmanship in the early colonies.

There are many explanatory exhibits designed for children (and adults) describing life in the valley in historic times. This total estate of house, gardens and museum would need more than a day to visit. We only saw the museum and could have spent much longer there.

The highlight of the museum for us was the R Lee Taylor collection of miniatures. Dolls houses does not quite describe the exquisite workmanship of these houses.

The four poster bed is something we saw quite a few of even in modern houses where they are very fashionable. But these are just about life sized - and these were hand made!

If these rooms represent the lifestyle of 'colonists' then there were some very wealthy people. The style may be European but the manufacture of the items was often American.

This is one of the 'grander' houses. The people give you some idea of the scale. We did comment that viewing the upper rooms was difficult, if not impossible, for the shorter person. For children it would be very disappointing. It was noted by the museum staff as a little point which had been missed.

I leave you with this grand example and note that in many rooms these chandeliers were lit. There is also a wine cellar which we were informed contains actual vintage wine! We weren't offered a tasting.