Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Pella Historical Village

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A fitting place to begin a tour of Pella.........at the landmark Vermeer Windmill one block east of the town square. It was around 1 p.m. last Saturday when I took these photos; obviously,the sun was bright, and high in the sky. Temperatures were in the 70's.......it was an absolutely perfect day!
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This replica windmill was erected about five years ago, around the time my daughter graduated from Central College here in Pella.
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I chose not to tour the windmill since time was at a premium, but it was fun to take photos from various angles.
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The windmill anchors the Pella Historical Village Museum. Click the photos to enlarge, so you can read the signs.
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Wyatt Earp's family once lived in this house below:


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Beautiful flower beds adorned the area between the sidewalk and the street. During the famous Tulip Festival in May each year, these same flower beds are filled with bright, eye-catching tulips!
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Anchoring this corner is the Scholte Church, named for Dominie Henry Scholte, founder of Pella.


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This next photo was taken from the alley running behind the village. If you click the photo you will see the pretzel-shaped "Bakkerii" sign on the right. No Dutch village would be complete without a bakery!

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Another view from the alley, looking into the area behind the windmill building:

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I thought I was alone in the alley, but as I crouched awkwardly to take this next photo, a man suddenly spoke up behind me: "Hi, I'm the miller. I used to think that one had to have a good camera in order to take a good picture, but I now know that one needs a good picture in order to take a good picture." I knew what he meant, and there's probably some truth in what he said.

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Soon I had completed the historical village circle and was back at the windmill, with its attached Dutch-style town buildings.

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Next time, we'll clompen up the street to the Klokkenspel and the town square. Clompen means "walk" in Dutch! [I'm in error about the meaning of the Dutch word, clompen. A commenter (dairymary) pointed this out. Clompen means "shoe". "Walk" in Dutch is marcheren, tippelen, or lopen. Thus, we'll continue to do one of those around Pella! Thanks, dairymary!]

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15 comments:

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

That looks like a really cute town. I wonder how far a drive it is from here.

Anonymous said...

I so enjoy your historical tours. These are fascinating places I may have never seen or known about otherwise.

Down on the Farm said...

Thank you for the tour. It was much less expensive than if I had gone in person.

Adventure girl said...

I've been to Pella. Thanks for the lovely pics. Makes me want to go back;)
Pella built a factory in my town about 3 years ago. Very successful!

I love all your kitty's!

http://adventuregirlwannabee.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Jeannelle, your tours are fabulous. It's like seeing a travelog online! Such a nice photo array. I haven't been to Pella, and it seems I should! Thanks again.

Mrs. B said...

What awesome pictures!!

What kind of camera do you use?

Jeannelle said...

Thank you all for the kind comments!!

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Ruth,

Pella is about 45 minutes southeast of Des Moines, if that's any help.

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saddlegait,

You know, there are just so many interesting places everywhere.


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downonthefarm,

Happy to save you a trip!


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adventure girl,

It must be a Pella Window factory, perhaps. Yes, that's one of the backbones of Pella, I think.

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Sherry,

Yes, by all means, if you can....go to Pella sometime. Its just a very pleasant town!

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Mrs. B,

These photos were taken with my "good" camera, which is a Nikon D40. I wanted to get an SLR and it was what I could afford. I don't know much about it yet, though, and haven't bought anymore lenses for it yet. I use the lens that came with it and the AUTO setting. If you really want to see great photos, go to Chronicles of a Country Girl.....she uses a Nikon D80 and has several lenses, and truly knows what she's doing.

Egghead said...

What a lovely place Pella is. I would love to visit sometime. I love windmills and that photo you took of the sunflower bending over is amazing.

Russell said...

Great photos! I taught a business law class at Central College last fall.

I remember driving back and forth to / from Pella every Monday night. It is a great town and a wonderful college.

I was always impressed by the flowers and how neat and clean the town is. Of course, tulip time is incredible in Pella. But it is a good place to visit any time!

I did now anything about the village or the information you shared. Interesting how much there is to a place or person and you might not know it!

Take care.

Jeannelle said...

Hi, egghead!

Thanks for your kind comment. Yes, Pella is just the most pleasant place, I think. I feel happy when I'm there!


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Hi, Russell!

Thank you for your comment! Oh, what fun to go to Pella every week as you did for awhile. I walked around the Central campus on Saturday, too, and will eventually post photos. You'll have to visit the history village next time you're there!

The W.O.W. factor! said...

I love windmills...and dutch everything, especially tulips!!!

DesertHen said...

Wow! Thanks for the tour.....now I want to go to Pella and see it for myself....it looks like a fun place.....and a great area for photo taking......=)

Now I want to go plant tulip bulbs....they are my favorite flower, but alas it is dark and cold outside.......guess the planting will have to wait.

Anonymous said...

I love your pictures of Pella. Some of the buildings remind me of the architecture in Holland, where I visited this summer. I've just checked in my Dutch/English dictionary to confirm what I know: klompen is the dutch work for wooden shoes. Maybe clompen has become a variation of the word, in Pella, for walking, though it is not in the dictionary

Anonymous said...

Forgot to sign the last comment. And thank you for the tour. Dairymary

Jeannelle said...

w.o.w. and deserthen,

Hello westerners and thanks for dropping by. Are there Dutch towns out your way, I wonder?

I hope the weather clears up so you can plant tulip bulbs!

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Dairymary,

Oh, that's neat you visited Holland recently!

And, thanks for pointing out the "clompen" error. Actually, I had posted over a year ago about this word:

Strappy Shoes and Clompen


I thought I had looked up the word "walk" in my daughter's Dutch/English dictionary and found it to be "clompen", but perhaps I looked up the word "shoe". I can't recall now, and the dictionary is not at my house anymore. Anyhow.....I googled "walk" in Dutch and the results are "marcheren, tippelen, or lopen". Thank you for pointing that out. I'll add a correction to the post.