Maitland Museum Campus

The History Museum is the brownish building to the right of the Maitland Art Center in this photo

231 W. Packwood Ave.
Maitland, FL 32751

407.539.2181

www.artandhistory.org

Waterhouse Residence

CarpentryMuseum

Telephone Museum

Maitland Historical Museum

AT A GLANCE:  Maitland Museum Campus
Date of visit	Saturday, February 17, 2018
Parking	Limited free street parking.  We had to park at the far side of the neighboring city park.  Even so, it only took a few minutes of walking to get to the Art Museum.  Additional parking at the public library or the civic center.
Amount of time needed to peruse exhibits:	45 - 60 for the five museums on campus grounds
Amount of time needed for gift shop	There is no gift shop
The “must have” souvenir	Select from any of Antonio’s Wine & Spirits inventory of specialty oils and herbs.
Online shopping	No.
Kid friendly shopping	No.
Kid friendly	Kids will be bored.
Dress code	As in West Palm Beach, dress tastefully.  You’ll feel woefully conspicuous in “beach” clothes.
Be sure to…..	Remember that you are doing your duty as an informed member of society.
Nearby/other establishments to visit	Maitland Art Center Audubon Center for Birds of Prey
Walkability, general downtown area / amount of traffic	The 4-acre campus is walkable.  However, this area of Maitland is located away from the downtown area, and isn’t walkable.  Sidewalks outside of the campus were scarce.
Safety, in terms of type and number of crimes committed in general area	Generally safe.  With all of the Mercedes, Jaguars, and BMWs, I find it tough to think someone would want to break into our car.  However, lock your car, place your valuables out of sight, and be aware of your surroundings.

 

Enjoy the day.  All of these museums are within a healthy walking distance.

It’s not that I don’t like history; it’s the way that museums present it that I find dull and boring.  The dank and musty smell creates my first impression with its full-on assault of my nose as soon as I enter.  Then there’s the way that museums create signage with too much information in order to share knowledge with the public.  These posters often hang dejectedly on the wall, in desperate groupings silently pleading for some…anyone… to pause and read.  Most of us don’t, because that many words crowded together is overwhelming.  It’s tiring to read the minutiae detail.  Some wonder if another way to teach history exists, and I hope.  However, it was business as usual at the Maitland complex of museums. I exited the smaller museums with squinty eyes, drained from reading small text over and over.  

This proved more than I wanted to read

This infographic contained twice the verbiage pictured here. 
Sure, it's interesting, but my eyes rebelled at the amount of reading.

 

More verbiage that I didn't read

In my next life, I want to discover a way to engage folks and get them excited about visiting history museums.  Yet, that’s for another time.  Sadly, the Maitland Museums let a great teaching experience slide away.  Visit the History Museum; read the posters.  

Go on and visit the Telephone Museum, where I had great hope that this would be different.  It was, and it wasn’t.  Not many posters to read, but the docent had to unlock the Museum and stand there with us while we looked around.  She gave us the canned speech, and left it at that. 

 

The Telephone Museum had unrealized potential

The original switchboard

Early automated switchboards

I'm good with signage like this.  It's informative and to the point

Look closely in the phone booth on the right and spot the Superman outfit hanging inside

 

Back when phones were phones.....

Historic telephones on display

"Newer" phones come in many colors

The inner workings of telephone communication was interesting, but required a docent to inform us about it

Take a trip through nostalgia with an honest-to-goodness working pay phone

 It gets worse.  The Carpentry Museum is an old tool shed / workshop that appear as if a sloppy woodworker left tools scattered about as if to return later and put them away.  My dad was a pattern maker / woodworker, and his workbench in the basement of my childhood home had more tools than this Carpentry Museum.  Make sure you stand near a source of fresh air, because this tiny Museum is heavily encrusted with a moldy smell.  Again, the docent unlocks the door and waits as we look about.  That’s three museums down and one left to visit.   

The Waterhouse Residence Museum, located on the banks of Lake Lily

 

My first impression of the Waterhouse Residence was a shabby one

With fingers crossed, we hiked to the Waterhouse Residence Museum.  Once glance at the front porch raised a red flag for me.  If highlighting a typical residence of the late 19^th century, why have such ratty chairs on the front porch?  Letting out a fatalistic sign, we entered.  I’m happy to say that the house lacked the distinctive old and damp funky smell.  We were greeted by a docent as soon as we entered, who wore a leather jacket.  In Florida.  On an 80-degree day.  We paid for a tour, and thankfully, the docent was engaging and informative.  My sagging hopes of sharing history raised an encouraged eyebrow in acknowledgement of our tour.  Sadly, that didn’t last.  At one point in our tour, I asked if the Waterhouse, whose home we found ourselves in, was part of the Price-Waterhouse fame.  His blank stare prompted me to supply details.  Price-Waterhouse?  As in the accounting firm for the Academy Awards?  In his defense, Mr. Docent was younger.  Of course, I researched this question when we returned home.  No, this was not that Waterhouse.  Rather, this one was a highly skilled woodworker and carpenter in the Maitland area in the 1880s, which clarified a comment that Mr. Docent made at the beginning of our tour of the Waterhouse residence.  Located just inside of the front door is a staircase that Mr. Waterhouse made that uses gravity to hold it together.  No nails were harmed in the making of this staircase.  

To be honest, this trip proved difficult to share on this blog, because I sound as if the Maitland Museums may not be worth your time.  If you look at it through the lens of an informative visit, then, perhaps it isn’t.  However, consider these small museums as a duty.  That’s right.  You need to make time for the 1 ½ to 2 hour journey that is the Maitland complex of museums.  Instead of wondering why these places exist, it’s because we, as a society, need them.  They contain the fabric of what once existed in terms that we can relate to today.  We connect through shared stories and experiences in attempts to bond.  We often begin conversations with friends and acquaintance with  “Have you ever…?” “Have you heard of…?” or “What do you think of…?” History ties us together through shared stories and experiences.  

Time for lunch.  Treat yourself with lunch at Antonio’s Wine and Spirits (http://antoniosonline.com/cafe-lunch-menu/).  Antonio’s began several years ago as a local deli, and slowly expanded into a sit-down restaurant.  

 

They have an onsite butcher with fresh meat for sale

Wonderful and tasty sweets for sale

 Bob loved the vegetarian Eggplant Parmesan, and I was enthralled with the Balsamic Chicken Sandwich.  

 

Our table was located in the vodka and whiskey section

Part of Antonio's wine section

Antonio's is a great restaurant, deli, and grocery store

What I really enjoyed, though, was that on our way into the restaurant, a women enjoying and Antonio’s lunch at the outdoor café called out to Bob:  “How did you like Houghton?”  He was proudly wearing a Michigan Tech University t-shirt, that being his alma mater.    Bob chatted with the women a bit, laughing about the snow in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula while enjoying Florida’s mild February day.  Geographically, Michigan is shaped like a large mitten, and I laughed, because I knew what came next.  

 Sure enough, they did the “hand thing” that Michiganders oft do upon greeting others from the area.  They each held their right hand up, and with the left hand pointed to a spot on their right hand indicating where each was from.    In my opinion, we, as members of today’s society, need to find a way to connect with folks outside of our immediate circle of acquaintances.  These two strangers found a way to bond through shared geography. 

The "Michigan Hand"

 

Make a point to visit a history museum.  If in Central Florida, visit and take advantage of Maitland, Florida’s museum campus.  We know that stories connect one generation to the next.  The legacy that we inherit is up to us to share with others.  This is one of those times when we need to step up and support the history museums that share the very thing that makes us a polite and cultural society.   Do your bit for humanity:  suck it up and visit the Maitland Museums.  

Maitland is located in Central Florida