It's an Experience

An open-air museum or an historic house museum is a learning experience that is unique in a way that allows a person to experience, rather than just read or listen to a blurb on the history of something. A person can be emerged into an environment where they can see and sometimes smell and touch what the subject is. One can activate all of their senses instead of just one or two. A concept of a certain subject or time in history that is taught by an open-air museum or house museum can become better understood to an individual.

For example, as kids, interactivity in a certain subject gave us better understanding of what a subject was. Going to the Betty-Brinn museum in elementary school, we explored how the human body works, different professions, how crops grow, and how physics works by interacting with specific exhibits. Though this museum is different than an open-air museum or historic museum, in the same way, it allows a person to experience something to spark a better understanding.

As a community, we can learn about architectural styles of the past. New architectural styles are always derived and altered from the past. We can also learn about the way our community used to be. Since house museums are not typically still lived in or used in the way they were in the past, they showcase a moment in time that once was. House museums can remind us that change is always happening and it is inevitable. Something that once was the center and pride of a community may be and probably will be something different in the future.

One of my favorite open-air museums is Medieval Times in Illinois. You’re emerged into this scene of the renaissance. People at Medieval Times dress and talk like people from that era and the experience is captivating. You get a meal like the people of the past got to feast on and you get to experience all of these activities that used to be enjoyed during the medieval times.

One of my favorite historic house museums is one I had mentioned in an earlier blog. This fall, I visited the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. The Observatory was built in the 1890s and still is home to the telescope that once was the worlds largest refracting lens telescope. I am still in awe of what I saw when I went. I could spend days there scoping out all of the details on the outside and inside of the building.

One of the more well-known house museums I visited is Mount Vernon. I loved seeing Mount Vernon because I am intrigued by American history. It was neat to see where the Washington’s had once lived. My favorite part was the view of the Potomac River. Looking out at the river that George and Martha used to look at and to stand on the lawn where they used to host picnics for friends and colleagues was one of those ‘out of body’ experiences.

We can learn a lot from house museums and open-air museums if run by the right people and maintained well.