Pella Historical Village Student Tour

	WYATT EARP HOUSE TOUR Welcome to the Pella Historical Village: KITCHEN: When you walked up to this house, did you notice how big it is? Long ago the Van Spanckeren family lived in part of this house and had a general store in the other part. A general store sold all kinds of things which a family needed such as cloth, building supplies, food items such as sugar and coffee, pots and pans, thread and needles. You’ll see some of these items later on our tour in the Van Spanckeren Store. The sink in this kitchen was called a dry sink because there was no running water. They had to step outside to the pump to get a bucket of water. DINING ROOM: This is the family dining room. The kerosene lamp above the table was the only light in the room. LIVING ROOM: The living room was also called the parlor. See the painting above the old pump organ. This man, Mr. Wolters, owned the only store in Pella for awhile. The people would complain about high prices in his store. He would tell them, “Just go find another store”. But there was no other store, so they had to pay the high prices. His store was located west of Pella across the street from the Ford garage. That is near the area where the first little straw houses were built. We’ll see one of these later on the tour. GUN ROOM: Take a peek into this small room. It has a collection of things from the America Civil War. Many Pella citizens and students from Central College fought in the Civil War. The pictures on the wall show Wyatt Earp as a child and older lawman. Wyatt Earp became a famous United States Deputy Marshal in Arizona. Wyatt and his family lived in this house when he was a young boy. He went to school in Pella and helped with the family farm. Wyatt’s father, Nicholas Earp, trained Northern soldiers for the Civil War. Wyatt was left in Pella to tend the family farm. One day when he was 14 years old he rode a horse to Ottumwa; he was going to join the army. Who should he run into but his father who scolded Wyatt and sent him back home to take care of the farm. Two years later the Earps left for California with a wagon train. Wyatt got his first rifle in preparation for that long trip. When you are older you will read stories about the Earps and the Wild West. Let’s go upstairs: See the large walking spinning wheel. The ladies actually walked back and forth with the wool thread as it was spun. CHILD’S ROOM: Notice all the old toys, the small child’s bed and the cradle. BIG BEDROOM: The bed is high off the floor because it had a trundle bed under it that could be pulled out for the children to sleep in. The wooden cupboard, called a wardrobe, was a closet for clothes. They did not build closets into the houses.
	SCHOLTE ROOM: Notice the picture of Dominie Scholte on the wall above the desk. He was the leader of the 800 Dutch people who came from Holland to live in Pella over 150 years ago.  The small picture is of his wife Mareah. She loved music and art and had 10 children. Only 2 of her children lived to be adults.    Mareah did not want to leave Holland and live on the wild Iowa prairie in a town called Pella. But she did come. When the stage coach arrived in Pella, she looked around and said to the Dominie, “Where is this Pella?” All she saw was an old log cabin. The Dominie replied, “This is Pella”, pointing to the cabin and the ground around it. The nice new house she had been promised had not yet been built. Mareah started to cry; she went into the cabin and went to bed crying and cried for many days. The other Dutch ladies could not understand why she was crying. They were happy to be in Pella; happy to be in America. DUTCH ROOM: See the Dutch bed-in-the-wall. Many times 3 children slept in a bed like this. The little high chair with wheels came from the town of Hindeloopen in Holland. The baby could sit in the chair and be moved through the house because the high chair had wheels. It also had a shelf inside to hold a pan full of hot coals; this kept the baby warm. This spinning wheel is smaller; the lady could sit and spin the sheep’s wool into yarn. The yarn would be used for socks, scarves, hats, shawls, sweaters, vests, mittens, blanket; things to keep family members warm. Look on the bottom shelf in the glass case. Do you see the pieces of broken delft dishes? These were Mareah’s dishes that were broken on the long trip to Pella. She cried when she saw her broken dishes. Using the broken dishes her gardener laid a path from the log cabin over to her newly constructed home, Scholte House. This made Mareah happy. There is a book entitled “A Path of Delft” that tells this story. Perhaps your teacher will read it to you. Another interesting story is “A Stranger In A Strange Land”. This was how Mareah described her feelings about Pella. You can read it when you are older.	Dominie     Scholte Mareah Scholte
	VAN SPANCKEREN STORE: This is what a general store looked like years ago. See the Fowler telephone switchboard. the operator placed all the call; there were 25 Pella families that had telephones. Think about how many families have phones today. UPSTAIRS: We have many old Pella items here: a drug store/pharmacy display and the permanent wave machine used to curl ladies hair. The Cox Band, pictured on the wall, was a famous Pella band. Return downstairs. In the back of the store you see butcher shop equipment, an old washing machine, a cheese press and a large coffee grinder. LIBRARY: Sterrenberg Library was built in 1849 by the Overseer of the Poor. If people were having a hard time he saw to it that the City helped them. The big painting shows the Dutch people arriving in Pella. Dominie Scholte in the black suit is welcoming them. If you look closely at the covered wagon in the picture, you can see a ghostly figure hanging on to the wagon. We think the artist painted this to show a guardian angel that traveled with the group of Hollanders, protecting them. The stern looking lady is Miss Viersen. She was responsible for Pella’s first library. Miss Siebertje Viersen did not want to leave Holland and come to Pella. Finally her father said, “Enough of this; you are coming with family to Pella. She was a seamstress and sewed clothes for many Dutch people in Pella. Sometimes they paid her in cash; sometimes with chickens, cows, pigs or whatever they had to trade. She sold the animals and made money. Finally she saved enough money to be able to go back to Holland. Being a smart business woman she decided not to go back but to stay in business in Pella instead. She donated the land and some money for books to start our Public Library. She contacted Andrew Carnegie, a rich American, and he gave money for the library building. Mr. Carnegie built many libraries all across America. The desk was made in 1854 for a professor at Central College. The college was located in those early days in the building at 1107 Washington Street which is now Strawtown Country Store. DELFT ROOM: This is a collection of delft pottery that belonged to Maurice Birdsall. Notice all the pretty colors. In Holland cows are popular; so are flowers. Above the fireplace is a tile showing 2 men pulling on a cow. They are arguing over who gets the cow. The lawyer is setting on a pile of books milking the cow. There is a Dutch saying that the lawyer gets the fruit of the fight. DOLL ROOM: Upstairs there is a collection of dolls in Dutch costumes, many old toys, games and children’s books. In the tall glass case there is a collection of dolls from all over the world.
	LOG CABIN: On the way to the log cabin look at the wooden pump and the iron pot for rendering lard. The wooden barrel was used for leaching lime from wood ashes that were placed in the barrel. Notice the grooves in the lime store for the liquid lime to run down to be collected in a bucket. This was used for making soap. The log cabin was moved here from the country. Each log was numbered as it was taken down and then it was put back together here at the Village. The fireplace was added when the cabin was reconstructed. On the wall is a large picture drawn by Dr. Roelofsz, Pella’s first doctor. He wears a tall black hat and is holding the new baby, Nellie Kramer. John (Jean) Francis LeCocq built the cabin in the picture. The Kramer family lived in a straw house. Mr. Kramer said to Mr. LeCocq, “My wife is going to have a baby soon and I’m afraid it will rain and snow on our straw house while she is in bed. What shall I do?” Mr. LeCocq moved Mrs. Kramer by ox cart to the cabin. A few days later on February 7, 1848, Pella’s first baby girl was born. Notice all the animals in the cabin in the picture. STRAW HOUSE: Next to the log cabin you can see a constructed Strawtown sod house like the Kramer’s lived in. Turn on the light switch and look inside. Can you imagine living in a straw house? POTTERY SHOP: Pottery was very important to the Pella settlers. The potter made jars and crocks for food storage and canning. See the potter’s wheel used to shape the wet clay into pots. BLACKSMITH SHOP: Our blacksmith shop holds an old steam engine. These engines, often fired by wood or coal, did heavy work for farmers and industry. See the blacksmith forge, horse shoes and broken pieces of iron ready to be repaired. The old wood working tools were used by Pella carpenters years ago. BEASON BLOMMERS MILL: Our mill grinds corn during Tulip Time and Fall Festival. Notice the wooden cogs on the mill stone. If one broke it was easy to cut a new wood one to replace it. The grindstone was run by river current.
	BAKERY: Inside the Bakery see the big dough box, the bakers racks to hold bread and the brick oven. We bake in the oven during Tulip Time. When you leave, notice the Bakery sign outside above the door. It is a copy of a sign in Holland. It looks like a big pretzel.
	HERITAGE HALL: Turn left as you enter Heritage Hall and go into the 19th Century House. You will come back here later on the tour.
	VAN MAANEN ROOM: This is an original Pella home furnished with Old World treasures. In the large case are Dutch east Indies/Oriental dishes and artifacts collected by spice buyer Elbert Van Maanen. The Dutch were world traders in spices. LAUTENBACH ROOM: The furniture is between 300 and 400 years old. It was collected by world travelers, John & Margaret Lautenbach. John is pictured in the large portrait on the wall. He was an architect in New York City and came back to Pella to retire. He designed the Tulip Toren downtown. The furniture is like wealthy Dutch families would have had in their homes. FARM HOUSE: This old home known as the Klein-Crumm House was built out in the country and moved to Pella in 1975. It is a very simple home. What makes it important is its front porch. The Dutch people saw front porches on the homes in St. Louis, Missouri when they stayed there waiting to move to Iowa. The houses in Holland do not have front porches but the new settlers in Pella decided to add porches to their new homes. they liked that American idea. KITCHEN: The collection of copper and brass on the high shelf was from New Jersey from the Hoke-Vos family. In Holland during World War II this collection was buried so that the soldiers could not take it. The fancy painting is called Hindeloopen art. See the Dutch window washer hanging from the wall. The flat bottom with holes went into the bucket of water. The wooden handle was plunged up and down. Water came out of the long spout to wash the windows on the top of a building. It was also used to pump water out of a boat. VIERSEN HOUSE: The style of the house outside with its Dutch hip roof is important to the Village; be sure to look for it when you leave. The house is furnished as a sitting room. The picture behind the piano is little Tommy Cox, a Pella boy who served as a drummer in the Civil War with the famous Cox Band. SCHOLTE CHURCH: We built this church in 1976 to look like Dominie Scholte’s second church in Pella. The tall pulpit was used by the Dominie in Holland. He could see if the people in church were sleeping during his sermons. Sometimes he would speak for 2 hours. Dutch people often sucked on peppermints to help them stay awake during these long sermons. The 1905 Estey reed organ was given to us by a class at Pella Middle School when the church was built.
	Retrace your steps back to the Dutch figures in Heritage Hall. TULIP TIME ROOM: This room celebrates Tulip Time all year long. See the Queen’s crown, robes, trophy, costumes and pictures of all the girls who have been Pella Tulip Queens. Take time to look around before you head upstairs. UPPER HALLWAY: As you walk along toward the Miniature Dutch Village you will notice many dishes and antiques belonging to John & Margaret Lautenbach. MINIATURE DUTCH VILLAGE: Pella craftsman George Heeren started this miniature village over 60 years ago. The restoration began in 1978 when the buildings were moved to this attic for display. Each building is copied after a building in Holland. Look into the tiny windows and see the furnishings in the homes and shops. See the stork on the chimney, Sinterklaas, the Dutch Santa on his white horse, sheep on the dike, cows by the barn and the children at the playground. Examine everything carefully. Then do back into the hallway and turn left. Just around the corner notice the large picture of Dutch children playing games. Do you recognize some of the games? Dutch artist Frans Hals painted the picture. DUTCH VIGNETTES: Each one of these glass rooms shows a Dutch scene: 1st. Dutch pantry - area for storing food. 2nd. Dutch Kitchen  3rd. Dining Room 4th. Living Room - note the very old clock Along the opposite wall is a case with different Dutch costumes. Each village or province had its own special way of dressing. Everyone wore that costume. If you were rich you would have gold or silver jewelry. HINDELOOPEN COLLECTION: See the fancy painting on the wall, table, chairs and desk. There is the Dutch bed-in-the-wall. The painting is called Hindeloopen. That is the name of a Dutch town. The pretty sled on the floor is for a Dutch lady; she would push herself across the ice with the poles.
	Look over the balcony. See all the Dutch province flags hanging from the ceiling. The street organ’s name is Goliath. The red calliope at the foot of the stairs is used on floats at Tulip Time. It plays happy music for a merry-go-round or a circus wagon.
	WERKPLAATS: The work place is like a factory where wooden shoes are made. On one side the machines shape a block of wood into a wooden shoe. On the other side the shoe maker shapes the toe and hollows out the inside of the wooden shoe. It takes sharp knives and tools to make wooden shoes. There is a collection of wooden shoes up on the high shelf. People wear wooden shoes at Tulip Time with thick socks and sponges for padding to protect their feet. END OF TOUR: Thank you for visiting the Pella Historical Village. What was your favorite thing? A bed-in-the-wall? The picture of Dutch people arriving in Pella? The log cabin picture? The church and pulpit? The Miniature Dutch Village? Dutch costumes? You will have many things to tell your family about when you get home today. Please come again.
	Straw House Lesson Plan Contents