WINDMILL MUSEUM AT SHATTUCK, OKLAHOMA

Another of our many stops in our travels was this small, free (donations welcomed) museum at Shattuck, Oklahoma.  In a day when windmills hold the promise of our electrical future a museum dedicated to the history of these ingenious devices seem just the thing to see on a very windy and hot day. 

There are four buildings on the site.  The one that holds item too frail to be outside any longer, the gift shop/office, a renovated soddy and the living quarters of the original owners.  You can tour any or all of the buildings with the volunteer that is working that day.

The lady that lead us around and told us the history of many of the items, sorry I forgot her name—one of the perils of not writing blog posts immediately after a visit, was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

She braved the heat and wind to walk over the slightly uneven ground with us as we took photos and asked questions.  It was all very pleasant.

When you think of windmills if you are older you think of the tall cone shaped ones with big blades and tulips. 

If you grew up in farming country on the plains it is more likely you would think of the metal ones that have the blades out front and a simple tail behind. 

The younger generation now thinks of the three blade electricity generators that cover the nation now.

They all do the same thing, they harness the power of the wind to do work for us. 

Many fine specimens were on exhibit here at the tiny museum right on the corner of the highway.  You can’t miss it. 

It was at this location we purchased our third souvenir for our travels (the second was a t-shirt for Gary from Jack Sisemore’s RV Museum because we loved the place so much) .  I purchased a pull chain for our camper ceiling fan that was a prairie style windmill.  In case you haven’t guessed already  we like for our souvenirs to be useful.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Our first stop was to walk through the towering windmills to the original home of the owners.  It is furnished with many original furnishings.  I always like to take a peek at how people use to live. So this and the soddy were both interesting to us.

My favorite of the windmills had some interesting blades on them.  The blades would either open all the way or just partially depending on the wind needing to be caught.

The first photo shows one such red and white redmill open all the way and the second shows a couple of them partially closed, much like a collapsible umbrella.

Once again a genealogy name popped up as we toured historical areas this time it was Ballew some of my husband’s ancestors were Bilyeu which was at one time in history Ballew.  Possibly a relative goes with this marker, but then just as likely not.

While the museum is small it was worth the trip over to Shattuck from Boiling Springs and it was on the way back from there we came across the MetalArt Museum in Gage.  So it was two free viewings for the price of fuel for one.

There were other items there like a well digging rig to made from auto parts, horse troughs and much and other items of a by gone era.  So the windmill museum was definitely worth our time.

Jan who loves finding different types of museums all over the USA in and away from OK