A Day Away

♫Shenandoah♫

Friday we decided to take a day away and drive the hour to Winchester, Virginia to visit the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.  Along the way we saw this roadside pumpkin stand and stopped to purchase the pumpkins for the Pumpkin Carving Contest I'm having for my family next weekend....

 These gourds had been painted with colored shellac....

 Winchester is a charming little big town.  We wanted to visit their pedestrian mall and have lunch there.  This is the alleyway from the parking deck....

These puppies caught my eye.  It seems they had the run of the store.  I did not notice the sign until I saw my photo....

 We lunched here because it had a lovely outdoor area....

 The lunch special was crab-swiss-asparagus quiche.  It was delicious....

The old County Court House, now a museum, was across the way from us....

My parents drove down from Pennsylvania to be married in Winchester in 1950, and I wondered if that is where it took place.  Ken suggested we visit their records department to find out.  We went to the City Hall on the next street....

....but we were referred to yet another building for the records.  When we could not locate their names in the records I began to wonder.....so I asked if there might be a reason we weren't finding their marriage certificate.  The Clerk told us they may have been married at City Hall instead of the County Court House and we should check the records in the next department.  Still no record of my father....So the clerk checked under my mother's name and there she was.  The Clerk went to get the certificate leaving me wondering if I was about to find out my father wasn't who I thought it was.  But, there his name was.  I think the Clerk had checked the wrong index for my father's name.  So, with that settled we headed for the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.  

The museum is located on the grounds of Glen Burnie, the home of the founder of Winchester, James Wood.  The house was closed for renovations but the Museum had this replica made--right down to the furnishings....

 The grounds were extensive.  This is the entrance to the family cemetery....

 The house was passed down through the family to the last descendant, Julian Wood Glass, who died in 1992 and stipulated in his Will that the house should be opened to the public.  He renovated the house and added structures such as the Pink Pavilion....

...along with the formal gardens....

A small stream runs through the property which lies in the valley, or glen, of the Shenandoah mountains, hence the name of property:  Glen Burnie--burn being the Scottish name for stream.  There I found these geese....

This is the drive in front of the house....

We eventually found our way back to the Museum for a tea/coffee and scone/brownie break before going through the Museum.  There was an entire room of miniature houses and rooms created by Mr. Taylor who did the Glen Burnie replica.  This was one of my favorite because of the copper pots....

There is another room that chronicles the history of the Shenandoah Valley exhibiting several of the handicrafts....

....and a room with Mr. Glass's art collection such as this painting of Harper's Ferry by Ferdinand Richardt in the 1850's....

We ended our day with a visit to a used book shop and the SPCA thrift shop where I found this beautiful vase for just $2!

A perfect ending to a lovely day!