Tag: places

History

Historical Buildings at Knott’s Berry Farm

Denise M. Colby

Earlier this year, we visited Knott’s Berry Farm for the Boysenberry Festival and I found myself taking a trip down history lane as we walked through Ghost Town. I love all the historical buildings. And I find myself wanting to sit down and take in the environment and let my mind wander back in history.

Ghost Town was originally built by Walter Knott in 1940, inspired by his mother’s 1868 journey to California in a covered wagon. It came about because people were waiting hours to eat at his wife’s restaurant and they needed something to do. He started with a main street, where he built a saloon, sheriff’s office, assay office, barbershop, and more.

If I could bring my laptop and write while sitting amongst it all, I would. From the one-room schoolhouse, which is a major setting in my novels, to the train, which carries my teachers west from Cincinatti (in 1869), it all transports me back 150 years.

Denise M. Colby standing in front of historical red one-room schoolhouse at Knotts Berry Farm
Here I am standing in front of Knotts Berry Farm’s One-Room Schoolhouse, which is similar to the one in my fictional town of Washton

FUN FACT ABOUT ME: I love searching for and finding one-room schoolhouses. Take a look at my page dedicated to those I’ve captured during my travels.

Train Engine rests amongst the historical buildings in Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm
Since my boys were little, our family has had a love affair with trains. Fun to be up close to an engine such as this one sitting on a rail in Ghost Town at Knott’s Berry Farm

Historical Buildings Show Us What Life Was Like

Historical towns were much smaller than towns today, with a main street that housed a general store, blacksmith shop, livery, and hotel. One-room schoolhouse’s sometimes doubled as a church or meeting hall, and majority of people ranched or ran a shop. A town grew if it had a train station.

I attempted to capture the essence of this old town in my photos and jot down notes to remember the feelings and emotions that bubbled up to the surface while I was there. This way I could carry them into my stories when I write.

  • The sign on the one-room schoolhouse at Knott's Berry Farm states it was built in 1879
  • jail building in Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm
  • What an outhouse looked like back in history
  • Historical General Blacksmith building in Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm is still a working blacksmith shop that makes pieces you can buy in the gift shop
  • The top of the historical hotel in Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm has a wrap around porch and resides above the saloon

Do you get a sense of history when you see these images?

One of the cool things about the Blacksmith shop is that they make and sell pieces in the store.

  • metal horseshoes and locks made by Knott's Berry Farm Blacksmith
  • Branding irons made by Knott's Berry Farm blacksmith
  • keys made by Knott's Berry Farm blacksmith

It’s amazing to see keys, branding irons, horseshoes, and locks that were made by hand.

The blacksmith shop is one of the historical buildings at Knott's Berry Farm

Have you ever visited Knott’s? Or is there another town that you like to visit to look at the historical buildings?

Denise M. Colby loves history, books, Disney, and musicals and not always in that order. Besides her blog here, she also contributes monthly at a writer’s blog A Slice of Orange.

Writing

It’s The One-Room Schoolhouse’s Fault

Denise M. Colby
Blog Title It's the One-room Schoolhouse's Fault with pick of prairie flowers and a one-room schoolhouse by Denise M. Colby

I have this thing for historical one-room schoolhouses. I don’t know why. They are cute, inviting and have history that is yearning to be told. Ever since I visited the one-room schoolhouse in old town Sacramento during my oldest son’s 4th grade Sacramento trip, I have wanted to write a story about one. 

  • How specific some of the rules were.
  • How students were separated with boys on one side, girls on the other.
  • How each student had to stand at the side of their desk to speak.
  • How lashings were given for the most interesting infringements.
  • How a female teacher had different rules than a male teacher.
  • How for some of these students, it was the only education they would ever receive.
  • How children of all ages were taught in the same room.
  • How one measly stove in the center of the room provided heat.
  • How lunch was carried in a bucket.
Quote from Blog by Denise M. Colby - Maybe it's the influence of Little House on the Prairie, but i find the history of the one-room schoolhouse a little romantic

Maybe it’s the influence of Little House on the Prairie, but I find the history of the one-room schoolhouse a little romantic. And so, when I went on the same trip with my second son two years later, the same curiousness came back, a few characters formed in my head, and a story screamed at me to write it. 

So I did. 

My story is about a town across the river from Sacramento that has a brand new schoolhouse. This schoolhouse seems to want to match-make for its teachers. Their first teacher got married before she set foot in it. The next one, my heroine Olivia, wants to remain a teacher her whole life. But God, the one-room schoolhouse, and Bert the rooster, all have a different plan for her.

It will be interesting to see how long she lasts, and who else might come to teach at this match-making one-room schoolhouse.

Quote from Blog by Denise M. Colby - Who else might come to teach at my match-making one-room schoolhouse

To find out more about the story I’m writing, go to the Going West Series page of my website. Or click on this link if you’d like to see the photos of One-Room Schoolhouses I’ve posted. I’ve also created a Pinterest board about One-Room Schoolhouses  which has been fun to build.