Coffee Hour in the Country
Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 09:57:32 AM PDT
The day before yesterday, my sister and I took a trip to talk to the caretaker of Newell House in Champoeg, OR. (This is a sister museum to Caples House where I have been spending quite a bit of time recently.) It was a beautiful day in a heavenly spot. The Newell House was built in 1852 – making it a very early Oregon pioneer settlement. Lots of historic reenactment goes on out here – and buses of school kids come through every year. Check out the linked web site for information on the collections, if you are interested. (You know my interests…the antique quilts at Newell House are a knock out!)
In part, the kids come because the old schoolhouse of Butteville was moved to the Newell House property. It’s a two-room building – the classroom on one side, the school marm’s residence on the other – complete with open hearth, Dutch oven cooking, and a spinning wheel (gotta have something to do in the evenings, I suppose -- were school marms allowed to have any fun?)
The Butteville jail was moved to the site, as well. It is a small, dirt-floored room with two barred windows – sufficient to keep the town drunk incarcerated but no one with any criminal determination, I think.
In addition to its historical reenactment activities, Newell House is a wedding site and is also available for organized teas (for ten or more people). There is a tea porch that is sort of reminiscent of Adirondack summer resorts, to me. The view is wonderful and bucolic, as you can see – absolutely relaxing. It would be fun to gather up a group from Portland someday and head out to Champoeg for tea and a dip into history.
What’s up with you this weekend? I’m still sewing Netroots Nation quilt patches but (knock wood) may finish today if Ann and I keep up yesterday’s pace. Then I’ll post a sneak preview of it for you all. Our dinner? No clue – except it is likely to involve a rotisserie chicken that we cooked a couple days ago.
