Archive for the ‘House Museums’ Category
The Waffle House Museum is Awesome
Last weekend I ventured to the Waffle House Museum in Avondale estates in order to do some serious professional research/use that excuse to go somewhere neat one last time.
The museum is only open one Saturday per month (and by appointment), so it was important to jump on the opportunity. Undeniable bonus? It was their 55th anniversary. I even got a pin that said so (not pictured anywhere).
Inside they’ve replicated the original counter and put out some extremely low-quality plastic food. I love it.
Here’s where you can have your picture taken WITH FAKE BANGS to replicate an awesome photo, which you can see to the right. What a great idea! Maybe we’ll put a curly wig on some cardboard here to recognize my time with the organization.
Here’s our tour guide for the kitchen, aka a button with a speaker above. She was pretty good, though her question-answering was a tad lacking.
Next to the original restaurant, they have a museum area with memorabilia though the years. We also had a legit tour guide who kept saying amazing things like, “The guy who the chili is named after is my godfather — we eat at about 12 Waffle Houses every Christmas and he has to order the chili every time to ensure quality control.” What?!
The woman above began at Waffle House as a waitress something like 30 years ago, and is now in charge of like, Florida. Being the 55th anniversary and all, she was there to celebrate. She was super nice, and super excited to be there.
Did you know they made Waffle House watches and pocket knives? You do now!
The menus throughout the years. I could have spent so much more time there, if I had eaten beforehand. Which I hadn’t.
Hey, there are the two founders behind a fake counter! How neat!
AND OH MY GOODNESS THERE IS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS! He walked by our group as we sat on a stoop, actively loitering while we waited for our comrades to arrive. Needless to say, we were star struck.
If you get a chance, definitely go to the Waffle House Museum. We ate at the active location down the street afterwards, and it all amounted to a super special and informative afternoon. Thanks for rallying the troops, Brooke!
Finally, this is my last blog post as an employee of the Wren’s Nest, which is making me really sad, truth be told. It’s been great fun to write here over the years, and I’m going to miss it a lot. Let’s just hope Lain is funny on his own.
Many thanks to all of you who have read this blog and supported the Wren’s Nest — it’s no small thing, and we appreciate more than can be expressed here.
I need to end this before I get irredeemably sappy. Bye for now!
Categories: Birds of a feather, House Museums, Mercenary Amelia Trace | Tags: Waffle House Museum,
Holiday Offerings from Atlanta Historic Homes over at Inside Access
The Atlanta Journal-Constitutions’s intrepid “fun stuff” reporter Jamie Gumbrecht has rounded up profiles of historic homes in Atlanta just in time for the holidays.
- Bulloch Hall
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Birth Home
- Margaret Mitchell House
- Swan House
- Rhodes Hall
- The Wren’s Nest
Fret not: Gumbrecht doesn’t fail to mention our neighbor the Herndon Home — it’s just that its had trouble keeping its doors open lately.
Note: while the our staff is excited about media coverage of house museums, the Wren’s Nest itself only begrudgingly shared the spotlight:
Martin Luther King, Jr. Birth Home Photo: AJC file photo
Categories: Atlanta, House Museums | Tags: Bulloch Hall, Margaret Mitchell House, Martin Luther King Jr Birth Home, Rhodes Hall, Swan House, Wren's Nest,
Trouble with the Herndon Home on WABE
This morning Atlanta’s NPR affiliate WABE covered the recent plight of the Herndon Home.
The Herndon Home is the historic home of Alonzo Herndon, the one-time slave who became the first African-American millionaire in Atlanta. The house doesn’t have much funding, doesn’t offer many tours, and doesn’t employ an executive director at the moment.
Hey, that sounds like the Wren’s Nest in 2006!
I’m happy our neighbor two miles north is getting some press. A few months back, and the AJC blog Inside Access asked for ideas on how to revitalize the place. It got one response. From me.
Surely there are more ideas out there! Do you have any bright ones for the Herndon Home? Ever visited the place?
Photo: Johnny Crawford for the AJC
Categories: Atlanta, Historic Preservation, House Museums | Tags: Alonzo Herndon, Herndon Home, WABE,
Assassination Vacation — My Kind of Book
I just finished Sarah Vowell’s book Assassination Vacation, and let me tell you, it’s a trip. (Pun intended. Always.) The book follows Vowell as she travels around the U.S., her path determined by presidential assassinations and the history surrounding them.
Naturally, our delightful narrator is visiting a ton of monuments, landmarks, and — you guessed it — house museums!
Vowell’s perspective is hilarious and, frankly, super, super spot on. Her take on all the different styles of her tour guides — like the one who quizzes middle school girls on every obscure historical figure who relates to Lincoln, resulting resounding silence — is a delight.
I also appreciated how well Vowell uses specific, often trivial, elements of history to really paint a picture of the era. For example, when she’s talking about the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (where McKinley was shot) she notes all the new technologies that were on display, including… a room full of preemie babies “demonstrating” incubators. Imagine asking a new mother now if you can borrow her underweight, premature infant to put on display.
I bring this up because we often try to emphasize the sensitivity (or huge, tremendous lack thereof) of Joel Chandler Harris’s time. It can be hard to illustrate the fact that we’re judging Harris with our current sensibilities — until you show them the piece of an elephant he received for being famous. Something makes me think PETA might try to get in the way of resurrecting that tradition. History is a whole lot of context, and Vowell uses it so, so well.
History geeks, non-fiction fans, slightly morbid folks, and those who appreciate the funny — this book’s for you. Thanks to my dear chum Rebecca for insisting that I read it (and not just because I fall into all of those categories).
Sidenote: I recently read “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” and let me tell you, these two pieces complement each other like you wouldn’t believe.
Previously: Inserting Modern Standards into Classic Literature — Cool?
Categories: House Museums, Hunting!, Road Trips, Shameless Promotion | Tags: assassination vacation, sarah vowell,
Emily Dickinson Homestead Lives Out My Historic House Nightmare
On Sunday, October 25th, a chunk of the ceiling collapsed inside the Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts. This is my worst nightmare.
The New York Times devoted one paragraph to the news, and I gasped no less than two times while reading it.
While it’s true I’m a big baby and easily scared, this is like a timely, direct line to what frightens me. Happy Halloween! (Perhaps I’ll go as a piece of front parlor plaster this year and pretend to fall on unsuspecting “guests of the museum.” Topical costumes are always crowd pleasers.)
But for real, this hits a tad too close to home. As part of our tour of the Wren’s Nest, we point out the huge gap in the floor between the “new” (1884) addition to the house and the original structure. We chuckle! It’s breezy in winter! Brrr! Haha, structural inadequacies!
And let’s not forget this doozie.
That is a piece of wood, holding up our hallway. Now it’s an enforced piece of wood, which is only slightly more comforting.
Remember that time part of the foundation was missing? Me too! It was terrifying!
In short, as much as I empathize with the Emily Dickinson House and wish them the best, most of my thoughts can be summed up here — thank goodness our restoration took care of 97% of our issues, because otherwise I would have just peed myself.
Emily Dicksinon Homestead Photo: Nealy-J
Categories: Birds of a feather, House Museums, Whoops! | Tags: amherst, emily dickinson homestead, historic homes,
Associated Press — Uncle Remus Museum Still Grapples with Race Issues
Yesterday the Associated Press ran a travel story on the Wren’s Nest. Read it here on ABC News. Or on Yahoo! News. Or in the Chicago Tribune.
One of the cool things about an Associated Press article is that you don’t really know where it’ll end up. In the El Paso Times? Sure. What about the Monterey County Herald? Why not! Say, the York Daily Record? Hell yes.
Please tell us what you think about the article. Keep in mind I have already heard every possible joke about being “spunky.”
Photo: Dorie Turner for the Associated Press
Categories: House Museums, Shameless Promotion, Storytelling, Uncle Remus | Tags: curtis richardson, racism, Uncle Remus, wren's nest house museum,
Wren’s Nest Conservation Project — Fixing Historic Windows
I was reading this post on historic window repair from Villa Finale, a National Trust Historic Site in Texas, and it reminded me that I hadn’t shared anything about our own window conservation.
Most of the windows in the Wren’s Nest are original. There’s one, however, that’s been boarded up for as long as I’ve been here.
The window is at the top of the stairwell, but it isn’t within easy reach at the top of the stairs. The best way to get to it is actually through the secret hatch in the roof. We’re keen on hatches.
I wanted to make sure we repaired the window as accurately as possible, but I didn’t know who to call.
That is, not until I met Tom Bretherton at the Decatur Old House Fair. Tom kicks it so old school that he spells it ‘ye olde school’ and nobody laughs, not even the English majors. He’s meticulous about historic preservation, and to be honest many of the details of what he did went way over my head.
Very basically, Tom removed and repaired the sash. Then he reinstalled it, replacing a few rotten parts.
He even busted out his sewing kit. Tom was explaining what he was doing exactly, but then the doorbell started ringing and I had to fetch it. My guess is: sewing the rope to the rope.
When I came back we had a new window!
The glass isn’t original the to the Wren’s Nest, but it is contemporary to our glass. There are striations and bubbles and everything.
Categories: 2008 - 2009 Wren's Nest Conservation Project, Historic Preservation, House Museums, Stuff I Find In the Attic | Tags: Historic Preservation, Windows,
Robert Burns Cottage of Atlanta — Atlanta’s Oldest House Museum?
This morning Christa T of Pecanne Log was all like, “Did you know that there’s an exact replica of Robert Burns’ childhood home in Atlanta?”
And I was all like, “No, Christa T via Pecanne Log, no I did not.” Then I looked up Robert Burns to refresh my memory.
Then I stopped at the Robert Burns Cottage on my way to work this morning to check it out.
The place isn’t really open to the public. And it reminds me more of my old Cub Scout Troop House up on Log Cabin Road than a house museum.
Still, it was built in 1910, preceding the public opening of the Wren’s Nest by 3 years. Is it a museum? Is it a Robert Burns Cottage Clubhouse? Do I have to become a member of Burns Club Atlanta to find out? Pecanne Log, please have answers to these questions on my desk in the morning.
I only snapped a couple more pictures. It was raining, and I was busy keeping it real.
This sign is my favorite –
Related:
- Did you know? — Pecanne Log
- Robert Burns Cottage — Atlanta Time Machine
- Burns Club Atlanta — Wikipedia
Categories: Atlanta, Birds of a feather, Good Questions, Historic Preservation, House Museums |
Thinking About the Wren’s Nest Website for 2009
The Wren’s Nest website is soooooo 2007.
We’re giving it a little tweak. Below is a list of what we’re committed to –
- Simplicity
Otherwise, the design is up in the air.
Come to think of it, so is the content. What else do you want to see here? Want to make sure something stays put? Have you even seen any pages aside from our blog?
Or maybe you just want us to bring back our 2006 site, coded by yours truly.
…or maybe not. Leave a comment below or shoot me an email with your ideas: lain@wrensnestonline.com
Need inspiration? See what these other house museums have to offer –
- Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, NY
- Astor House Museum in Golden, CO
- Molly Brown House, Denver, CO
- Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA, plus their new site Jefferson Today
- Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, GA
- Historic House Trust of New York City
Categories: Good Questions, Gussying up, House Museums, Nonprofit Management, Technological Advances |
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
But you probably knew that.
Though I’m loathe to admit it, I still haven’t visited Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home here in Atlanta. I know, I know.
In the meantime, this gallery of the home in the AJC is great. I seriously love house museums where the rooms are set up like the family just went to lunch and will be back in an hour. Maybe we’ll start hiring children to run around all over the place here to give it a sense of realism.
Categories: Atlanta, Failed Attempts at Looking Reputable, House Museums |