Post by Ella.
756 carved wildfowl decoys. A few hundred more in storage. “Night at the Museum” (the film where all the creatures on display come alive to cause havoc at night) flashed through my brain. Roughly carved ducks, swans, geese, herons, egrets and more filled the glass display cases crowded into the small rooms where every footstep on the old wooden floor issued a loud creak. I almost ran but the docent at the door of the Dorset House (built circa 1832) had welcomed me warmly and told me to be sure not to miss the miniature decoys on the second floor.
The Dorset House is one of 38 buildings comprising the Shelburne Museum which has quite a (often whimsical and sometimes bizarre) collection of Americana. The buildings themselves are from past eras having been dismantled from other areas in Vermont and reconstructed on the museum grounds. Some are houses used to display art, folk art, collections (like old children’s hankies, whirligigs and weathervanes, band boxes, and decoys). Others are what they are, a General Store, a Blacksmith, a Settler’s Home, a luxury paddle-wheel ship (Ticonderoga), and so on.
Let’s get back to the decoys. There are laminated sheets in every room that list each decoy by number and give what little data is known about each piece. Some are solid, some are hollow. Most are wood or cork. All are meant to lure wildfowl into shooting range.
Yeah…huh…
Hahaha I was gonna tell you to skip the decoy house, but it is kind of a thing.
It was bizarre but in a fun way 🤪