A couple of years were skipped during the Great Depression when this area virtually turned into a dust bowl. They had what they called "black blizzard" dust storms for ten years. And, there was no Corn Palace during the war years of 1942, 1943, and 1944 because all of the corn was being shipped to feed our fighting troops. The tradition was resumed in 1945.
There have been hundreds of stars of stage, screen and music perform at the Corn Palace. John Philip Sousa was the first. Would you believe that President Obama spoke at the Corn Palace during his campaign! Mitchell also is the home of George McGovern.
The Discovery Pioneer Museum here in Mitchell holds many Indian and pioneer artifacts. There are absolutely beautiful indian bead work clothes on display for men, women and children. They have some of the most colorful and intricate needle work I have ever seen. All of this incredible work is done on deer leather. There is so much to read about the Indians - fascinating and sad.
We visited the original Beckwith home which had been moved to the museum site and I was impressed at how much it looked like my own grandparents home in northern Michigan. The furniture, old wood stove in the kitchen and the piano were the same as my grandparents. The yard around the house looked like my grandfather's garden. The orange poppies were in bloom and the dark red peonies are ready to pop open in the next few days. The peonies will be a gorgeous splash of color all around the big porch of the khaki colored gingerbread house which is painted with dark red accents. This is the original color of the house. The one room school house moved to the museum reminded me totally of the one I attended when I spent a winter with my grandparents in northern Michigan. I attended first grade in just such a school. Just a few years ago! ugh!
Mitchell, South Dakota, is 85 miles south of the Little House on the Prairie home. I purchased two books about Laura Ingalls Wilder, one is her biography and the other one is entitled "Old Town in the Green Groves" (Laura Ingalls Wilder's Lost Little House Years). It is written about the period of Laura's life when she was 8 - 10 years old before she had started writing her Little House series. We won't try to get up to see her home but all of it is fully documented here in the museum.
At last I may have gotten out my summer clothes for good. It still gets chilly in the evenings and we do not have the a/c on but I can put on a sweatshirt or jacket for the evening. On to Sturgis, motorcycle rally country and Hill City, South Dakota, the Santa Fe of the Black Hills. Vaya Con Dios!
See photos below.
Made entirely of corn!!!
Here's our new Dream Catcher hanging in the window above our laptop.
Finally, congratulations and happy re-wedding day to the young couple in Virginia renewing their vows tomorrow. "The Bells Are Ringing for Me and My Gal!"
My one day in summer clothes!
Helen and Larry, thanks for the good wishes. We're staying at Spring Farm, the ancestral home of the bride(s). The house was built in 1750 in Goldvein, Va., in the middle of what is now the Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg National Battlefield. Their Great Grandmother Maggie Boswell lived in the house all durin gthe war, and was married in this house in 1869. Maggies brother was Capt. James Keith Boswell, Gen Stonewall Jackson's chief engineer. "Uncle Jimmie" fell by Stonewall's side at the Battle of Chancellorsville after seeing action in eleven battles, at the age of 25.
ReplyDeleteMaggie scratched her full name in beautiful cursive in the downstairs living room window and it is clearly ledgible.
The countryside is rolling hills with black horse fence, with horses here. The grounds are covered in Kentucky coffee trees, and the land gently rolls down to the Rappahanock River.
The girls feel strangely "at home" here, it is a beautiful place with many stories in the walls and halls.
The front porch was used to care for the wounded during several different battles.
THe owners are a lovely young couple we've gotten to know durin gour genealogical work. He from England, she from Minnesota, but she's more Reb than Yank now, that's for sure. She's become a Jimmie Boswell fan and when we arrived she exclaimed, "Tom, the Boswell's are here"! It's been a long time since Boswell blood has been on the grounds. Well, I guess it's good to marry royalty.
We'll have our vow renewal ceremony this afternoon on the porch overlooking the fields populated by horses, cows, and deer; to be followed by music by the "Fat City Two"; capped off with a BBQ of free range chicken on the grill. The only item left undone is the bride deciding to actually renew, there is still some hesitation! Quite an experieince.
Phooey! Wish we could have made your re-wedding!
ReplyDeleteSounds just awesome and did not know that we were related to such royalty! Have a blast. You guys need some fun. Helen and Larry in cold, rainy Sturgis, SD.