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Some started as collections. Others began with a single, generous gift. Some are smaller than your living room, while others occupy thousands of square feet. Each place has a distinct story to tell, unique memories and tangible items to share. Together, they contain some of the best there is to see on California’s central coast. These are the museums of the Santa Ynez Valley.
AN HISTORICAL VIEW
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The Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum and Parks-Janeway Carriage House
www.syvm.org
805-688-7889
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If you’re hoping to learn about the beginnings of the Santa Ynez Valley, there’s no better place to start than the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum and Carriage House. Organized in 1961 by Ellen Gleason and a number of dedicated Valley residents who realized they needed to preserve some of the area’s history, the museum quickly grew from a single room into an impressive complex of memorabilia. Housing everything from saddles and spurs to period clothing and an authentic 1880s jail, the museum’s collections give visitor’s a taste of authentic Western lore.
Docent Nadine Hansen, a Valley resident since 1936, remembers many of the people and events highlighted in the museum. Her favorite area is the Parks-Janeway Carriage House, which is so named because many of the carriages were donated by Betty Parks and Elizabeth Janeway. (Today, the carriages beneft from the expert care of museum curator John Crockett.) “The carriages are so unique,” Nadine says. “I can remember years when they would take them out.” She also has fond memories of Jeanette Lyons, a Valley pioneer whose name graces one of the museum rooms. Another early museum benefactor, Mary Davidge, donated funds for the courtyard which bears her name. And another early moving force was Rosalie Cornelius.
The Valley Room highlights each of the five towns in the Santa Ynez Valley. It also has one of the museum’s newest permanent exhibits: a running scale model of the Pacific Railway’s end-of-the-line, featuring Mattei’s Tavern, the train station, and the engine house that used to be in Los Olivos. Valley resident Ken Kelley spent five months creating the display with a team of volunteers.
“The train ran until 1934 and the exhibit depicts the turn of the century, around 1910,” explains Museum Director Chris Bashforth. “In recent months we’ve been updating our exhibits to make them more interpretive and engaging for our visiting public,” she adds. “This display makes a wonderful focal point in tracing the history of our area.”
The SYV Historical Museum is open Wednesday–Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults. Members and children 16 and under are free. Exhibits rotate often, so don’t hesitate to go back and see what’s new.
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Elverhøj Museum of History and Art
www.elverhoj.org
805-686-1211
If you’re looking to learn more about Solvang specifically, the Elverhøj Museum of History and Art is the place to go. |
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| Established in 1988 in the home of artists Viggo and Martha Brandt-Erichsen, the building was a gift from Martha when she died. |
“She set it up to have this become a community museum upon her passing and a small fund was established to subsidize that transition,” says Executive Director Esther Jacobsen Bates. “It was a great gift to the community.”
Built by Viggo himself in old-world Danish style with hand hewn beams and decorative ironwork, the house itself is a tribute to its owners’ Danish roots. As a result, the museum focuses not only on the history of Solvang from its founding in 1911, but also on Denmark and the immigrant experience.
The Elverhøj also houses a large art gallery with changing exhibits about every two months, featuring everything from local to international art. “We also offer lots of classes, we have receptions, we have art classes, we have cooking classes, craft classes for kids and adults, performances and concerts,” adds Bates. “Our visitors seem to really enjoy that variety.”
In recent months docents, volunteers, UCSB interns and staff have put in thousands of hours to archive and identify all of the photos and information pertaining to the history of Solvang. The end result will be a “major redo” in the Solvang Room by the end of the year, and possibly a book. “There hasn’t been one definitive source,” says Bates. “If you start looking for the history in any kind of a book form, there isn’t anything that’s contemporary and in print and there’s a lot of conflicting information.”
Another area to visit is the Diorama Cottage, filled with structures built to scale of Solvang circa the late 1920s. A multi-year project that is still ongoing, locals and visitors alike will enjoy seeing which Solvang landmarks remain almost 90 years later.
The Elverhøj Museum of History and Art is open Wed. & Thu. from 1 to 4 p.m., and Fri. thru Sun. from noon to 4 p.m. There is no charge for admission. Suggested donation of $3. Members and children 12 and under are always free. |
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Buellton Historical Society
www.buelltonhistory.org
Tucked up above Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant in Buellton you will find the History Room, an homage to all things Buellton. |
Occupying two original guest rooms of the Bueltmore Hotel, the museum illustrates a period from about 1918 through the 1970s.
“The history of Buellton is really the story of the Coast Highway or 101, and how the highway affected what Buellton looks like today,” says Curt Cragg, a history buff and archivist who has been a driving force behind the History Room. “Buellton has always been a service town because of it’s proximity to the highway and that has impacted businesses significantly.”
Visitors are pulled into the History Room with a series of historical photos and artifacts leading up a stairwell from the restaurant lobby. Once upstairs they will learn about the Buell Ranch, Highway 101 and Andersen’s, a fixture on Buellton’s landscape since 1924.
You can see the Buellton History Room anytime Pea Soup Andersen’s is open, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. There is no charge for admission.
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Old Mission Santa Inés
www.missionsantaines.org
805-688-4815
A look into the Santa Ynez Valley’s past wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Old Mission Santa Inés. Built in 1804, the 19th of 21 missions established by Franciscan priests, the mission museum provides another perspective on the Valley’s history.
Following a self-guided audio system, visitors are led through several rooms of artifacts that include 17th century religious artwork and statues, Spanish colonial candle stands and hand made music books, and a vestment collection dating back to the 1500s. The collection includes a vest worn by Junipero Sera that predates the mission. The tour continues through the gardens and cemetery, and the church when it is not being used.
One of the most visible landmarks in the Santa Ynez Valley, the mission is also an active parish church and a popular staging area for numerous community events. “We get about 50,000 visitors each year,” says Gift Shop Manager Bonnie Abbott.
A recent addition to the mission grounds is an olive grove of 1,600 trees. A blessing and dedication of the grove will take place in October and future visitors might even get to take home a bottle of mission olive oil.
Old Mission Santa Inés is open to visitors every day from 9 a.m. to 5:30. Admission is $4/person. One-hundred percent of the proceeds go to restoration and maintenance of the mission. |
ALL THINGS WILD AND WONDERFUL |
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Wildling Art Museum
www.wildlingmuseum.org
805-688-1082
Although it was incorporated in 1997, the Wildling Museum didn’t open its doors to the public until 2000. |
With its unique emphasis on landscape or wildlife related art, the museum has the lofty ideal of presenting America’s wilderness in a way that encourages people to preserve it.
No other museum in the country has that mission,” says Executive Director Penny Knowles. “Our impact will be national so we have a national focus rather than just regional.”
The Wildling hosts four seasonal exhibitions each year that may focus on a living artist or reach back as far as colonial times. With each showing, the Wildling creates a publication to not only preserve the artwork, but to provide ongoing education. “A lot of the exhibits we originate ourselves, so you could only see them here,” adds Knowles. “This is the only museum in the Valley that is exclusively an art museum. We’re here just to educate and inspire.”
With the education goal in mind, Knowles has been working with Melinda Weymouth, an art instructor at Santa Ynez Valley Charter School, to develop the ArtSmart program. Currently being tested at the charter school, the program will use famous artwork of American painters to reinforce core curriculum. The program may be implemented at other Valley schools as well.
Additional programs take place at the museum itself. The first Friday of every month the Wildling screens films about art or wildlife. The museum also hosts lectures, art classes, field trips, birding classes and an annual artists studio tour.
The Wildling Museum is open Wed– Sun from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Suggested donation $2. Members and children under 12 are free. |
Lake Cachuma Nature Center
www.cachuma.com
805-693-0691
You can’t get much wilder than the Lake Cachuma Nature Center. Tucked behind the General Store, the Lake Cachuma Nature Center offers history, geology and hands-on displays as well as an overview of the plants and animals found in the area.
“There are still a lot of people who don’t know about the Nature Center, but more people are finding out about it,” says Park Naturalist Liz Mason Gaspar. “It has gained in stature and visibility in the community and it’s now a destination for many locals.”
Guided nature walks leave from the Nature Center every Saturday and the Junior Ranger teaches children about nature, wildlife and the environment. For more about Lake Cachuma and the Nature Center, see our article in the Spring issue.
The Lake Cachuma Nature Center is open Wed. & Sat. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thu. & Fri. from noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
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FROM A COLLECTION THEY GREW |
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The Book Loft and
Hans Christian Andersen Museum
www.bookloftsolvang.com
805-688-6010
Kathy Mullins never set out to be a museum curator. |
It started with a few books, a small collection of translated stories by the famed Danish author that were available in the used book section of the Book Loft.
Over the years the collection grew and moved upstairs, and that’s when Mullins began to collect books and artifacts in earnest for the Hans Christian Andersen Museum.
“Now we have the largest collection of Andersen books for sale outside of Denmark,” says Mullins, and, as far as she knows, the only museum in the United States dedicated to the influential author.
“Andersen is studied in Denmark the way Shakespeare is studied in England and Mark Twain is studied in the United States,” she says. “But the big, official museum is in his hometown of Odense.”
Back on this shore, Mullins celebrates Andersen’s life and writing through numerous translations of his work, interpretive exhibits with pictures, handwritten letters and poems and models of “The Princess and the Pea” and the author’s childhood home. Andersen’s April 2nd birthday is commemorated every year in the museum. Several years ago Solvang had a Hans Christian Andersen festival that included folk dancing, storytelling and fairy tale characters strolling in costume around the village. Thor Nielsen’s one-man musical show about Andersen ran for a dozen performances in the conference room adjoining the museum. “It was an intimate, moving, educational theater experience about Andersen and his life,” recalls Mullins.
More typically the celebration includes kransekage (the traditional Danish celebratory cake) and juice, a storyteller, or showings of videos made from Andersen’s tales.
The Hans Christian Andersen Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is free. |
Vintage Motorcycle Museum
www.motosolvang.com
805-686-9522
Virgil Elings started riding motorcycles at a young age. “Back in Iowa we could get a learner’s permit at age 14 to drive a motorcycle without your parents,” he says. “So most of us got one then.” Proudly cruising around on a 1939 James, he had no idea that it was the beginning of what would become a lifelong passion.
Now with more than 150 motorcycles in his collection, Elings rotates the bikes through his Vintage Motorcycle Museum and invites the public to enjoy the view. “Like any collector we have overflow,” he laughs. “We have about 80 in the museum and the rest are wherever we can fit them!”
A 1904 VSU V Twin holds the distinction of being the oldest vehicle on display right now. The collection includes a number of rare motorcycles from 1904 up to the 1990s.
“People don’t expect to see motorcycles in Solvang,” says Elings. “It’s something they literally stumble on.”
Those who find the unexpected museum may wonder what prompted Elings to choose the Valley, but growing up in Des Moines he had early contact with this California town. “I lived across the street from a junior college run by Danish Lutherans, and one of the early college presidents was a founder of Solvang,” he recalls. “A bunch of kids from Solvang would come out every year. We used to think they were weird because they would stay out all day playing in the snow, throwing snowballs. I guess it was pretty unusual for them.”
While some might say a motorcycle museum in the midst of a Danish town seems unusual, this retired physics professor, businessman and motorcycle racer takes it all in stride and opens his doors to the thousands who visit each year.
The Vintage Motorcycle Museum is open weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment. Admission is $5.
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