A beautiful buiding in it's own right, this museum is a treasure! The turret in the "L" houses a planetarium; the current show, besides the usual nightime sky is explaining volcanoes throughout the solar system and is quite amazing!
The first floor is a natural history museum, and also houses a gift shop inside the front entrance, and at the far end is a gallery that rotates exhibits. The current one is an amazing set of images shot with an 8x10 (negative size) view camera of Vermont side-hill farms.
You'll have to pardon my attempts to convey the scope and beauty of the interior of this wonderful place. These are handheld, existing light exposures at 1/8 to 1/15 of a second, wide open aperture with my digital Nikon set on 400 ASA speed.
The second floor has an overview of cultures from around the world through the ages, along with some Vermont, St. Johnsbury and Fairbanks history. It also houses the rock exhibits that used to be in the basement before the weather station was enlarged.
The basement has a small display showing the history of Fairbanks scales and their manufacture in St. Johnsbury, and houses the weather station for Vermont Public Radio and some other affiliates.
I've been here many times through the years, the first time with my mother-in-law who could remember attending dinners in the Fairbanks family homes when she was young, before the "family fortune" disappeared and they lost everything. It was always a very special place for her, and has become one to me as well.
alan
8 comments:
Your photographs convey the size and scope of the place quite well. It's really lovely.
We've been busy with our shingling project and haven't been reading blogs quite so much. Nice to stop in and see how your Vermont trip went. Looks like you had a lot of fun. Glad you made it home safely.
Nice pictures. If we do not go this weekend we are definately going in August and will use your suggestions
Great photos......
It sounds like you had a lovely trip.
Mary
You don't need to be told how beautiful the place is because the pix brought the message home.
You did those without flash?? They're gorgeous--and really do convey the beauty of the place. I'm suddenly itching for a roadtrip.
WHat kind of camera do you use?
xo Inger
Nikon E-5700, discontinued about 6 months after I bought it because they figured out how to get the shutter lag out of it. These were shot with the wide angle, only the 2nd time it had been out of the case. No flash is permitted in most museums, and would have "flared out" the glass anyway. The speed setting is the equivalent of buying 400 ASA film, and makes a bit of digital noise, but I never dreamed I'd be able to get as many shots as I did and have them actually come up decently. I shot most of the display cases, all of the family related things, and what I could of the animals downstairs.
In the next day or two I'm going to get some up of the Atheneum, and I have some other points of interest to share as I get time to Photoshop them. I've also been making some prints for a vacation contest at work...
alan
welcome home =) i missed "seeing you around"...
looks like you had a great trip...i especially love the shots you got of the full moon...no matter how hard i try i can never capture the beauty of one...
peace...
lovely interior shots, Alan, you done good.
oh, the heat.....it's all what you're used to.
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