|
October 24, 2010
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS Our trip to Lubbock was pleasant and very wet coming home. Our meeting was held at the American Wind Power Museum located in a part of Lubbock that I am not familiar with. I always vision Lubbock as very flat and sandy but the museum is located in a Canyon with a creek. It is on the top of the canyon and absolutely beautiful. The museum has the biggest collection of Windmills in America, its meeting room has a mural being painted by a local artist that depicts the history of the windmill. This room also has garage doors that open the room to a massive view of Lubbock. Very impressive. A must see if you are in Lubbock. Our meeting was very good and we learned some new teaching techniques that I hope will assist us in our programs with school visits during the year. We also learned how to make a paper airplane and will have the pattern available here at the museum for anyone who likes to make paper airplanes. Georgia is out of town for a couple of weeks visiting her kids, grandkids, and greats in Amarillo. I will be in Austin this week attending the National Preservation Meeting as a Texas Scholar. I hope to learn techniques that will assist us with one of our goals for 2011 which is to survey the county for sites, structures, etc that need to be preserved. I look forward to reporting back to the board and commission on this meeting. This is the second national organization to have their annual meeting in our area. The third one will be in March and is the American Association of Museums. It is interesting and educational to attend these meetings and meet and learn from people all over the United States. Stay tuned for reports. HISTORICAL MUSINGS Sunday is Halloween and the one animal that is associated with Halloween beside the black cat is the Bat. 32 out of 42 species of US bats migrate through Texas at some time during the year, making Texas the battiest state in the Union! This is according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. They also assure us that there is only 3 species of bats specialize in blood meals and none of them live in Texas. Our local bats assist in managing our mosquito population. The closes bat cave to us is Caprock Canyons Trailway State Park near Plainview. You can visit their website for the schedule. Since Halloween originated as a celebration connected with evil spirits, Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts, goblins and skeletons have all evolved as symbols of Halloween. Pumpkins are also a symbol of Halloween. The pumpkin is an orange-colored squash and orange has become the traditional Halloween color with black. A legend grew up about a man named Jack who was so stingy that he was not allowed into heaven when he died, because he was a miser. he couldn't enter hell either because he had played jokes on the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. The Irish people carved scary faces out of turnips, beets or potatoes representing "Jack of the Lantern," or Jack-o'lantern. When the Irish brought their customs to the United States, they carved faces on pumpkins because in the autumn they were more plentiful than turnips. Lipscomb County has always had fun at Halloween with school carnivals and of course trick or treating on Halloween evening. A review of past newspapers reveal a variety of descriptions of trick /treaters who range in age from toddlers to old folks and they started their fun in gorilla suits to ugly old men during the week of Halloween. The court house ladies have always been fun and I bet this Friday will be full of scary and interesting characters. Enjoy the Carnivals and the costumes. |
 |
© 2006 - 2024 Wolf Creek Heritage Museum
All Rights Reserved |