Ferndale Museum
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Winter WonderlandTaken in 1936
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Rummage DonationsAre you cleaning out your closets? Do you need to make room for more new things? Are you tired of looking at the same dishes, vases, pictures or what-not? Bring down your cast-offs to the museum for the annual rummage sale. You won’t have to hassle with all those strangers looking at your stuff. Donations are tax-deductible. Bring in your items Wednesday - Friday 11-3. Please, no clothing, computers, typewriters or exercise equipment. Docents NeededDo you have a spare few hours a month? The museum needs volunteers to greet visitors. You will be working with another person at all times. Local history knowledge is a plus but is not necessary. You will learn a lot about our community while sitting here. You will be scheduled for one day a month for about 2 to 3 hours. Talk to your friends, invite them to come and sit with you one day. It is a great way to meet new people. Buzz on Bees“About a million of James B. Davis’s honey bees escaped from his place in Ferndale Sunday and swarmed on top of Alford’s drug store. Jim followed them up with a hive and inside of an hour he had them safely boxed and home again. Quite a crowd watched him as he hived them.” Enterprise 6-23-1896 |
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Logging HistoryBy now we have had the latest showing of the Tipple Movies and the 1965 flood. I hope you made it to see them. It is always so much fun to see people you know on the big screen. I was going through our photographs and found a couple of interesting logging photos to share. The first one is of 3 men cutting a large redwood tree with axes around 1900. Men really had to work to get the lumber in those days! |
We have several saws and lots of logging equipment as well as a round from a 1237 year old tree. It was a seedling about 745 AD! You may also have noticed the slab hanging on the wall in our annex. It is one solid cut of wood 6 foot by 12 foot by 3” deep. That would make one heck of a conference table! |
This picture is of George Morrison with a drag saw. |
Bocce Bocce BocceIs it an Italian wine? A new fancy brand name? No – it is the new game rage that is hitting the United States. It is my understanding that it is a bit like lawn bowling, very competitive and VERY fun! The museum is going to be putting on a tournament Saturday, June 13, from 9-4. We will have 4 person teams with a maximum of 16 teams. Positions will go fast so make sure you sign up early. You may sign up as an individual and you will be placed with a team or you may sign up as a team of 4. Refreshments will be available. Look for flyers to be up the end of April – 1st of May. Go to the Ferndale Bocce website and click on calendar for additional information. Proceeds will benefit the Museum. Los Amigas CookbookI know a lot of you are cookbook-aholics like me. Heads up on a new cookbook that has FANTASTIC recipes in it. It is a fundraiser by the Loleta Los Amigas Club (a women’s civic club). Price is $14.95 and a bargain at that. There are Humboldt County Fair award winning recipes in there! Call me for your copy and I will bring it in to the museum or we can mail you a copy for an additional $5.00. Shirley 768-1938 shirleyleeh@yahoo.com Video History in the MakingWe have started another exciting and very interesting project. We are videotaping local people to preserve the history they have locked in their memories! So far we have interviewed: Curt & Shirley Ambrosini – Arlynda Store, Charley Beck, Robert Brown, Mary Coppini, Maxine Detlefsen, Pat Henrickson, Ray Jorgensen, Dorian & Sanford Lowry, Jack Mays, Myrtle Philipsen, Trudy from the Candy Store, Titus Family, Bear River Stories, Ferndale High School Students. Dave Carr and Don Andersen have been doing most of the work. They could use some help in camera, editing and interviewing if you are interested in helping. We are also transferring old audio tapes to DVD to preserve their recordings in a more durable media. We have a list of names of people we want to interview but are always open to suggestions for more names or area history stories. |
Town Clocks Way Back WhenOur town street clock has been in the news lately because of the refurbishing done on it. Many towns had street clocks or clocks on towers. Here is a picture of a town clock we had around 1900. It was a hanging clock mounted on a bar that swept out over the sidewalk in front of A.P. Winslow’s Optometry Shop. The shop was torn down in 1905 and incorporated into the Brick Store in 1906 – just in time for the earthquake to take it down! |
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ψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψ Fern’s Facts and Musingsψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψ Q. Dear Fern, Exactly where was the original
Shaw brothers’ cabin
of 1852? A. Dear Buff, We don’t know exactly where, but we do know approximately where. Seth and Stephen Shaw built a cabin in the fall of 1852 on Stephen’s land, and that winter ten other early settlers stayed with them off and on while they were also looking for land in this area. In 1856, Stephen’s land was sold to the Francis Francis family. Seth Shaw in the meantime had begun building his home on his land claim just north of Stephen’s property. In 1927, Joseph Shaw, the son of Seth, wrote an article about Ferndale history in which he said that the first cabin was at the foot of Wild Cat Road. When Stephen Shaw died in 1900, his obituary in the Enterprise said “His old cabin stood at the foot of the hill near the present residence of J. E. Dougherty.” Seth Kinman, one of the ten cabin visitors, wrote that Mr. Shaw’s cabin was located west of Francis Creek. He also described the location as “at the front of the hill on the left hand side of the road.” This all sounds like that lovely meadow in the shelter of the hills where the house at 300 Ocean Avenue stands today. So much for information, now for some speculation. Whatever became of the cabin? I have never seen any further reference to it. It could have burned down or flooded out. It could have been dismantled – say by Seth Shaw, who used the lumber to build his house. Or, when the Francis family came here in 1856, they could have moved into the cabin, at least temporarily. The Doolittle Map of 1856 shows the Francis home to be on the site of the Nilsen barn behind the Portuguese Hall, which burned down last year. The house on that property stood there until 1902, when it was moved and the barn was built. So, if anybody has any other information about the cabin, we would love to hear about it. ψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψ Please submit questions to the Ferndale Museum for “Fern’s Musings” ψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψψ |
The Ferndale Museum Board of Directors, June 2009 Officers: Donald Andersen, President; Joan Katri, Vice President; Irene Bryant, Secretary; David Carr, Treasurer. Members: Norma Bessingpas, Lorie J. Ford, Kirk Gothier, Richard B. Hooley, George Nichols Executive Staff: Jerry Lesandro, Director; Shirley Hopkins, Director's Assistant; Virginia McDonald, Membership. Ferndale Museum |
Ferndale Museum © 2009