Eliot's Travels

Once again it was quite hot today. After finishing the outdoor museum, we decided to stop by the Zaansmuseum at the parking lot to see if it was air conditioned (if not, we had decided we would just go on home). Fortunately for us, it was and we went inside. This was one of the best museums I have been to (well, come to think of it, I haven't been into a museum in a long time!). But it was quite good - interesting, artsy, and personable. Their exhibit was centered around Life, Work, Wind, Water and tried to capture life in the Zaan region. The museum had wonderful activities for children too - boxes to open, cabinet doors with surprises, slideshows, log seats on casters to roll around, and a whole upstairs room just for kids with craft activities.

Life - displays of items from Zaans region: household items; house style; industry boom; artwork
Work - nickname for region "Dutch" pantry; refinement of raw materials with windmills; displays of assembly lines and manufacturing machines
Water - small display of boats; ship models; artwork of the sea and ships

Wind
The typical Zaan landscape with its long strips of land in between ditches is totally man-made. The development of the peaty swamp started in the 12th century. Innumerable ditches formed a drainage system leading the water towards the river Zaan. The origin of this name remains unknown. The fact that they named this river so early indicates the importance it had has a waterway.

In the Zaan region people could once live from the wind (transalation problem?). In this flat area, where trees didn't find hold in the soggy soil, the wind blew unabated. Seeking a livelihood people discovered wind speed as a power source. The first saw mill in 1596 triggered the high speed expansion of the Zaan industry. In all, a thousand wind mills supplied throughout two centuries clean energy for this first "industrial area" in European history.

The wind section was most intriguing. There were lots of personal stories and most decriptions were in English. They had a slide show/video from an old windmill that told the story of how wind power changed the region. To watch the presentation on a huge wall, we sat in an area surrounded by large jars of the raw materials (seeds, rock, spices, grains) used in mills and also the refined products like paper and oil. We listened to the English version on a telephone. The kids could watch the video, see a model of the region and even hold a phone to keep them occupied. The wood and sawmill area was really neat. They again had a video telling the story of a man and the land. There were old woodworking tools on the walls where the slideshow was displayed, plus all kinds of sawmill tools and products like a whole log cut into planks to dry with the separators between the planks. Mary said this is exactly how they cut and dried our walnut wood from their yard. This is where the boys moved the logs around to stay busy while we watched the story.

We were so happy we went into the Zaansmuseum - it was a great end to the day. We were on our home by 5:00 to meet Jim for dinner. It was about an 1 hour home.

posted by Whitney @ 1:14 PM