Week 2- National Historic First Ladies Museum-Canton

I was in for an interesting afternoon at the National First Ladies Museum. It's located in an old bank building in the middle of downtown Canton and is filled with interesting articles, pictures, clothes and information. I took a tour and the docents were informative, telling lots of things about the times many of these women lived in.

Three first ladies have visited this site: Laura Bush, Roslyn Carter and Hilary Clinton.

This site is a recent concept, established in 2000 as a place to research, explore, understand and appreciate the role these women have played in American history.

Are you ready for some First Lady trivia? Here we go! Answers follow.

1. How many First Ladies are alive today?

2. Who was the only First Lady not born in the United States?

3. Who was the youngest First Lady in history?

4. You know Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of Franklin Delano. What was Teddy Roosevelt's wife's name? Not so well-known, is she!

5. A First Lady of firsts: first to hold a college degree, first to use a telephone and typewriter in the White House, first to see the installation of running water system, first to travel without her husband to give speeches- Who was she?

1. 7-M. Obama, L. Bush, H. Clinton, B. Bush, R. Carter, N. Reagan, B. Ford

2. Louisa Adams, wife of john Quincy, was born in England

3. Francis Cleveland, only 21 when Grover Cleveland married her. He was 30 years older and they were married after he was elected.

4. Edith Roosevelt

5. Lucy Hayes, pictured above. She was a disappointment to womens rights groups of the time, who expected her to take a more active role in her husband's administration. She instead chose to focus on family responsibilites.

Week 1-Texas

My first museum: The Plains-Panhandle Museum at Western Texas A & M

And what is the history of the panhandle? Oil, Cattle and Wind

I went with Liz, Nate, Nate Jr. and Trevor, during our vacation to Amarillo. The first thing we saw was the giant oil rig on display at the front of the museum. Some other highlights: an old gas station, lots of history of oil drilling and how it got started and helped build up the area in the early 1900's. It kind of sounded like the gold-rush to California-people flocking to Texas to try to make their fortune.

We enjoyed the videos that showed the early oil towns and the people. Also, the pioneer town set up as a model containing a general store, a saloon, barber shop, post office and other buildings you'd find in an early settlement.

Liz liked the giant oil rig and all its interesting parts.

Trevor liked the hands-on activities best, and ran to each one as we entered a new area.

We all liked the wheel of fortune, that predicted how you would fare as a farmer during the dust-bowl drought of the 30's.

Big Nate liked riding side-saddle on the saddle display.

I was disappointed as the Museum store closed before we could go in and shop.

Everyone was a good sport, coming along on my museum project.

Here's a link to see more about the museum.

http://www.panhandleplains.org/