This museum was a home originally built in the late 1800’s. It sits in the middle of the City of Industry in Los Angeles and many locals don’t even know it exists. What a great treasure to have in the area. The story behind it is full of history and the homestead possesses such cultural beauty. I can’t believe it was free!
There’s no way I could possibly write all about it in a short journal entry. And I can’t even begin to express how difficult it is to choose which pictures pictures to post!
Before our tour of the Homestead, we took a short walk to the pond,
and the family cemetary & mausoleum.
This is the first time the girls had seen a crypt. They found it both interesting and creepy.
Poor Phil, our tour guide, was so patient with me taking pictures! He was an excellent tour guide who seemed to know the history of the place well. We were his only guests during this tour, so we got to ask lots of questions and take our time.
Phil shared many things with us...
How farmers made candles and soap from cow fat. The candles and soap were inside the basket he held, pictured below.
Cattle was raised, not for the meat or the milk, but for the hyde. The California Gold Rush had just begun during this time period and the farmers would trade their valuable hyde for gold, thus becoming very rich.
The process of making mud bricks, which is what was used in the building of this home. We learned about this process during the school year, so it was neat to hear it again and actually see how they were used and what they look like.
Softballs were really soft. The inside of them is filled with horse hair. Since ball players didn't have gloves back then, they tagged others "out" by throwing the ball at them. Therefore, the balls were made soft to prevent injury.
Bats were just carved out of wood. I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole bat. One of them looked more like a paddle, the other resembled a bat like what is used today.
The kids listened intently as Phil told us the history of the place and the family and they were very well-behaved.
Since the family was a mixed breed of English and Mexican, the design of the Homestead reflected both styles. A hand carved relief surrounds the 800-pound wooden door that opens into the front of the house.
Katie got to push the door open...
...and we entered the grand foyer.
The windows in the music room displayed composers etched in glass,
each one carefully built in.
Since there was no TV, almost every member of the family played a musical instrument for entertainment, so the music room was used often.
Hand painted tiles dressed the walls and floors with original beauty...
And other windows told stories of their own...
This place is a treasure to be found and I'm glad to have done some digging for it!
This building served as an office...
This was the private water tower...
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