Road Trip! High Point, NC

Although it was sunny, last Saturday wasn't the greatest day, weather-wise, for a road trip.  We love to go wander someplace new and see what we find. Even though it was unusually cold for NC, it was the only day we would have for quite a while so we went anyway.  We'd never been to High Point so we decided to go wander around there.

 

Our first stop was the Doll and Miniature Museum. 

Originally, dear husband and I thought that only daughter and I would be interested.  We were wrong; everyone was fascinated.  This museum started as the collection of Angela Peterson (1902 - 2000), who was a fascinating woman.  She lived an ordinary life, for women of her time, until after her husband died when she was 45.  When her children went to college, she embarked on a number of careers.  Her father, a West Virginia, U.S. Senator, tried to block her admission into the army Special Forces.  She served in Korea.  She traveled the world, and she found that she loved Turkey so much that she set up tours there. There were many more details, which, unfortunately, I don't remember and can't find online.  

[Right:  The John Coltrane doll (he originally came from High Point]

 



Dolls of prominent African-Americans

A whole case of Shirley Temple dolls (which gets a bit creepy)

 

A dollhouse of Angela Peterson's childhood home

Part of the Serta Imperial Bedrooms Collection, which included bedrooms for King Tutankhamun, Peter the Great, and Queen Elizabeth I (above).

 
Different nutcracker versions of Santa Claus

My childhood in a museum.

When I was around 6 or 7, my father built me a dollhouse.  My mother sewed curtains and made carpets, and they furnished it.  It was my favorite toy of all time, and I spent hours playing with it and making up stories. 

  The "Petite Princess" line of doll furniture wasn't popular with stuffy collectors because the furniture wasn't made of wood (it only sold for a few years).

However, the furniture was very well loved by a small girl who kept it up in her room even when she got older and didn't play with it often.  Her daughter played with it when she was little.  It's now waiting in our closet to be played with again someday.

I love the details in the furniture.  Yes, it's plastic, but it's done well.  The drawers and cabinets all open, the little mirrors on the sideboard are real, and the tea trolley (which you can't see because of the reflection), rolls quite nicely.  I still even have the tea set.

We ate a delicious lunch at Grateful Bread.  There was someone there playing the Celtic harp.  Since I enjoy Celtic music, a number of the pieces were familiar.  Maybe in a few years when I'm not so busy, I should look into learning to play it...
 

High Point grew up around the furniture industry.  This building is one of High Point's landmarks.
 

 
Fountains don't freeze all that often in NC.  High Point University has a pretty campus, and, someday, we'd like to wander around it when it's a bit warmer.
 

We loved the furniture industry display at the High Point Museum and Historical Park.  Daughter and I discussed the social and political aspects; younger son and I discussed the mechanical ones (I'll have to ask older son and dear husband what they discussed).  Younger son particularly liked this display about the stages of furniture production.


Of course, younger son also liked the Thomas bus exhibit where you could sit in the driver's seat.  The Thomas Bus Company, which started out making streetcars, still builds 15,000 buses a year in High Point.

We had dinner at Mimi's Cafe in Burlington on the way home.  Daughter and I have been there for lunch twice, but the guys hadn't been there yet.  The food is good, but the muffins are wonderful!

Comments

[Furniture Stores]

Lot's of great photos. Loved the dollhouse!

[Ivo Beutler]

It's nice to travel from one place to another, see new things and meet people from all walks of life. Great to know that you guys had a great time there at NC. Have a nice day!