Curator's Choice
Like history? Love museums? From ancient relics to modern marvels, each episode of this show features a new museum and a sampling of some amazing artifacts housed there. What makes Curator's Choice truly special is our exclusive interviews with the unsung heroes of museums—the curators themselves. These guardians of history will share insights, anecdotes, and the often untold stories that breathe life into the artifacts they protect.
Through this podcast, our mission is to dispel the notion of museums as static, old, and dull spaces. Instead, we aim to reveal them as vibrant repositories brimming with mystery and wonder, one artifact at a time.
New episodes are released every two weeks, and you can tune in anywhere you get your podcasts!
Curator's Choice
Episode 41: Shenandoah Heritage Village Museum
Continuing our trek in Luray, Virginia, I meet with Isabela Graves from the Shenandoah Heritage Village Museum. She shares the incredible work she and her husband have been doing to preserve the history of the valley, and some truly spectacular artifacts housed there.
Shenandoah Heritage Village
The Shenandoah Heritage Village is a seven-acre re-creation of a small 19th-century farming community made up of restored historic buildings, cottage-style gardens, and a small vineyard with a scenic mountain backdrop. They even have a cafe and gem mining sluice!
Iron Stoves
It was a very complicated process, to create the highly decorated iron stoves. The artists would have to carve their designs to create a wooden mold. Then that carving would be pressed into very hard sand, so molten iron could be poured in. These different plates of iron would then be assembled into a stove that could replace large, dangerous hearths. They were safer, easier to cook with, and really revolutionized kitchen life for colonials. And they were made with incredibly elaborate designs.
1539 Bible
This bible was not only an important religious relic but also a catalog of historic events. It was printed in Zurich, Switzerland in 1536 by Christopher Froschauer who was a printer of the Swiss Reformation. It has illustrations painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, the King's Painter to Henry VIII of England.
Episode Links:
- Shenandoah Heritage Village website: https://luraycaverns.com/attractions/shenandoah-heritage-village/
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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers