San Bernardino County Museum

When the weather gets really warm, one of the things I like best is to find a cool air conditioned museum.  Wandering around in the sun and the dust and the heat just doesn’t appeal to me.  But spending some time with interesting history and art, well, now you’re talking.  I recently visited the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California.  It’s been quite a while since my last visit but I remembered my daughter always enjoyed it when she was a kid and felt I was overdue.

Mysteries at the Museum was the name of one of the special summer exhibits.  Sounds intriguing, right?  That’s what I thought so I went there first.  The circular walls of the Schuiling Gallery featured display cases  containing curious objects and visitors were invited to guess the identity of the mystery items.  Colorful sticky notes were provided for this purpose.  The butter churn was easy but some of the others were really tough.

This metal brush or comb was used on flax.  I don’t know much more than that but I suppose it helped to clean the fibers before the flax was turned into linen.  I loved reading the notes.  An orange note next to this device bore the scribbled notation “Torture Thing.”  Well, it was a good guess.

In its permanent collections the San Bernardino County Museum showcases the mammals and birds of this region.  I never knew there were so many different types of birds in my neighborhood.  I see the usual mockingbirds and doves and an occasional blue jay and red-tailed hawk, but never all these woodpeckers and swallows and owls.

The museum has three levels.  The birds are on the upper level, the mammals on the lower level.  Historical exhibits are on the main level.   There is an elevator but by far it was more fun to walk the ramps between floors.  The display of bygone equipment was terrific.  This old Underwood typewriter was so tempting; I just wanted to touch it.  I guess that’s why they put things in cases.

The children visiting the museum seemed to get a kick out of the old typewriters, phones, cash registers and calculators.  Everything is so different now since a lot of these functions can now be done via mobile phone!

This is California history on display, so of course there were the requisite Conestoga wagon and Wells Fargo stagecoach.   I believe I saw a steam engine out back as I was leaving.  San Bernardino was once a major transportation hub and in some ways it still is as one can’t help but notice that railroad tracks crisscross the area.  One of the best things I saw was the number of children at the museum.  It’s good to know that, even during summer, families and schools are still organizing visits to see the mastodons or the cactus garden.  The San Bernardino County Museum remains a kid-friendly place.