GHOST TOWN MUSEUM
GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS AND GROUP LEADERS
Depending upon the total size of your group, you may want to break up into smaller groups and start in different parts of the Museum; ten to fifteen per group is best. Please feel free to use and copy this questionnaire to help students get more out of their visit to Ghost Town.
NOTE: No climbing on the antique carriages, autos or stagecoaches is allowed.
This is only a guide. Please feel free to explore for yourself, and if you would like to make any comments please do so.
SHERIFF’S OFFICE Beginning with the Sheriff’s office, you’ll note how busy he is at this time. Let’s not disturb him.
GENERAL STORE Proceed to the General Store and point out some of the items that students may recognize and compare to today’s general store. The General Store was a clearinghouse for all merchandise, even more so in a small town! Anything not made at home was purchased here, and consisted of foodstuffs to dry goods, and hardware to machinery. The enormous variety made it a popular spot to visit and was a social gathering place.
BLACKSMITH SHOP After the General Store, you will make your way past the shooting gallery on to the Blacksmith Shop. Quiet the students, press the button, and listen to the tale of the Smithy. Notice all of the tools he used. The profession of working wrought iron is over 4,000 years old. The main equipment used is the forge, for heating metal, the bellows which force air on the coals for extra heat, a water barrel for quenching, and the anvil for pounding and shaping the metal. The Blacksmith’s most important tool, however, was his hammer. The Blacksmith’s duties included horseshoe manufacturing and shoeing, repair of carriages, and repair of farm implements. He was also responsible for repairing the modern horseless carriage and was, in effect the first service station.
JAIL The man in the Jail is next, and he is so old, some children are frightened of him. He is the closest thing to a ghost that anyone will see at Ghost Town. He will begin talking as you get close to him.
PRINT SHOP The Print Shop is next. Be sure to see the oldest newspapers in our display. We also have a Print Smith who comes in and makes Papers and Wanted Posters with “your name” in headlines. Notice the huge Washington Press in the rear. After the Print Smith arranged his thousands of pieces of type by hand – one letter at a time from the drawers on the left – he would roll ink directly onto the type and press one page at a time. The Print Smith was generally the author of each article, and was, therefore, a person of great respect in each town.
BARBER SHOP Next is the Barber Shop. Note the reclining barber chair with a child seat, and the cost of a haircut and shave. The Barber Shop was the centerpiece for sharing news and gossip. The Print Smith from next door would obtain a great deal of information from here. Notice the customers’ personal shaving mugs, kept for hygiene, on the rear left wall. The most obvious feature of the Barber Shop is the striped pole. These relics are actually symbolic of the time when barbering and surgery were performed by the same individual. Barbers practiced phlebotomy (blood letting), by having their patients grasp the pole below a spool of bandaging. After wrapping the wounds, the bandage spool would remain loosely twisted around the pole. The barber’s pole remains an enduring sign of this trade.
DRUGSTORE The druggist has a story to tell, too. Be sure to push the button and listen to his tale. The Drugstore was the home of the apothecary – today known as the pharmacist. Apothecary simply means the process of mixing weights and volumes of ingredients into compounds. Notice all of the many choices of bottled ingredients he could choose from. The colorful bottles in the front window were a symbol of the Drugstore. By the turn-of-the-century, the druggist’s job was supposedly simplified by the advent of “Patent Medicines.” These miracle drugs made flagrant claims to sure all of mankind’s ills. Remember the “Wizard” in The Wizard of Oz? He was originally a traveling patent medicine salesman.
ROOMING HOUSE Listen to the musical entertainment of the day by pushing the pianists button. Look over your head and see the woman in red waving at the “parade.” Adults will know to whom she waves, but the children think there is a perpetual parade going by.
WELLS FARGO OFFICE This is the place where you could send a telegram, pick up your mail, or catch the next stagecoach. It was also home to the town’s Assayer who would weigh your ore sample and tell you its worth. Push the button to hear him tell you a thing or two.
SALOON Leave your horses hitched outside and mosey on up to the bar and order yourself a cold one (in the old days, that is…). Notice the beautiful old Wurlitzer player piano that is actually a one-man band. And yes, the old movie machines really work.
Point out the FIREHOUSE to the children. This little fire station is ill equipped to handle a hot fire.
The STAGECOACHES are very interesting. People sat inside the coach, on top of the coach, on the back of the coach, and, of course, in front with the driver to guard the coach and its cargo. When the stagecoach had the equivalent of today’s flat tire, or if the coach got stuck in the mud, the occupants, depending upon the price of their ticket, would have to get out and walk or sometimes help push the coach.
THE OLD HOME In the Victorian era home point out that some people in the old west had a pretty hard life, and a very few had a life of luxury. We have tried to depict both in our Victorian era display. The children can see the types of games and toys that the Victorian children played with. They also find interesting the fact that women had curling irons – heated by the kerosene lantern.
We hope you have enjoyed your little tour of Ghost Town. Be sure to come and see us again!