Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe (D.C. 05-08-13)

There are an amazing amount of museums and historic sights to see in this area.  Some of them we know we can skip-neither of us in much interested in art, so the art museums can easily be bypassed.  Other than that though, we have had to make some tough choices.  Should we take a day off and head to Annapolis? (stay tuned for that answer) Would the National Building Museum be of interest to Paul?  Should we pay to take the tour of Ford’s Theatre?
We keep saying we should sit down and make a list of our “must do” museums, but somehow we don’t.  Every night we just decide what we want to go see the next day.  We can always extend our stay for a few days if we run out of time, so we’ll see.
Tuesday we decided we’d go to the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of American History.  It soon became apparent that we had totally underestimated how big these museums are.  After spending the entire day at the Museum of Natural History, we left at closing time without having seen everything.  Each wing of these museums could be a museum in it’s own right.

There are rooms dedicated to the ocean and life within it- from tropical fish to the Right Whale- so named because it was the “right” whale for whalers to hunt.  It had valuable blubber and the added bonus that when it was killed, it didn’t sink.

Of course there was an entire section devoted to mammals.

The gem and mineral collection contained mock ups of 3 kinds of mines, with descriptions of how, where and when the mining was done, plus an impressive display of rocks and gems, including the Hope Diamond, a 45 carat diamond found in India.

It was while we were in the gem room that it became obvious to us that it was still raining outside.  No joke, this is how crowded this museum was.

One of the more unique wings of the museum, called “Written in Bone” is dedicated to forensics.  Jamestown Virginia, not too far from here, presented a great opportunity for this museum to teach archeology and forensics, all in a great display.  For many years, it was assumed the the first English settlement, Jamestown, had been absorbed by the James River.  Then in the 1994, during an archeological expedition, evidence of the town and the people who lived in it was discovered.

Using forensics, evidence from the gravesite itself, and historic documents,  they have been able to determine what this person looked like, and who he probably was.  His name was Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.
Over a million artifacts have been uncovered at Jamestown.








The following day we jumped right back in, and, getting a slightly earlier start, headed to the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History. What a mouthful.
As it’s name implies, this museum is about all things American, covering subjects such as wars, transportation, agriculture, communication, and culture

 

We started in the Stars And Stripes room- an entire room dedicated to the American flag and the Star Spangled Banner.  No pictures are allowed to be taken in that room, but it was neat to be looking at the original flag that flew over Fort McHenry, while listening to the National Anthem in the background.

 

There were lots of pictures illustrating Americans displaying the flag during times of distress and happiness- with the flag representing, in a variety scenarios, what it means to be American.

A room full of memorabilia included an original Kermit the frog, Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Archie Bunker’s chair, the hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing at the Ford Theatre, and Apolo Ohno’s skates.

 

A display of Food in America had  Julia Child’s entire kitchen.

 

One of the stories was about wine.  Zinfandel grapes were usually used to produce cheap red wines, and by the 1960s, most vintners in California had moved on to making Chardonnays and Cabernets.  The Sutter Home winery was still using old vines to make red zinfandel but one day, a mistake was made, and too much sugar was left in the wine.  After a week or so, the winemaker tasted it and liked it.  A new wine had been “invented”: White Zinfandel. 

 

The impact of motorized transportation on society is a theme we have seen quite a few times before, but this museum offered new and interesting tidbits to our knowledge database.

As the number of automobiles grew, states began requiring them to be registered.  In  1901,New York was the first state to have that requirement, but by 1918, all states required license plates. Driver’s licenses came later- in 1935, only 39 states required drivers to be licensed, and only a handful required that drivers pass a test.

The advent of the school bus in the early 1930s changed school systems.  Rural children no longer attended a localized, one room schoolhouse, but were bussed further away to consolidated schools, where kids were separated by age.

 

In the 1950s, with so many households owning cars, the urban population started moving out to the suburbs, where land was plentiful, but cars were a necessity. Most families were “one car” families, with the dad commuting into the city using public transportation, so the car could be left for the mom to use. 

I definitely have memories of driving with my mom to drop my dad off at the bus stop, so he could commute to his job in Boston.