If you thought that weather vanes were just for the wind, think again. Tour the Shelburne Museum in Vermont with former curator Eloise Beil, who gives you an historic look at weather vanes and whirligigs.
Vermont's Shelburne Museum offers an 80,000-piece potpourri of folk, fine and decorative objects, including seven fully furnished historic houses, a one- room schoolhouse, and an 1890 railroad station. This New England establishment also sports one of the most extensive collections of weather vanes and whirligigs in the country, some of which were featured on this show.
It's hard to imagine that the weather vanes on your rooftop have origins in ancient Greece, but even the Greeks made ornamental birds and animals to top their homes and other architectural structures. Originally, weather vanes were fabricated from a combination of wood, sheet iron or copper, to be durable enough to hold up in any weather. Eventually, someone realized that it was easier and quicker to construct these adornments out of wood, which could then be embellished with gilding or painted in bright colors like yellow and red. Gold leaf also weathered particularly well, and can still be found on many of the Shelburne museum's exhibits.
While weather vanes were a useful, serious and practical addition to an edifice, whirligigs appeared in less formal settings and became favorite toys for children. Although the construction of whirligigs became a popular folk art, historians are still searching for the origins of these whirling contraptions.
Resources Shelburne Museum
Contact the museum for hours. The museum contains 80,000 objects of folk, fine and decorative arts. For further information, please write or call.
Shelburne Museum
U.S. Route 7
PO Box 10
Shelburne, VT 05482
USA
Phone: 802-985-3346
Fax: 802-985-2331
E-mail:
info@shelburnemuseum.org
Website:
www.shelburnemuseum.org
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