Conejo Post

I finally giddy-upped over to the  Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park on Friday.  Since I have lived in the Conejo Valley eleven years, I thought it was about time to tour this historical landmark, and time for me to take a grandchild along too. 

If I had known that I would enjoy going through this copy of the old building so much, the original of which was built in 1876, I would have gone to see it a lot sooner! 

The docent leading our tour was friendly and knowledgeable.  She told us that the original building burned down to the ground in 1970, but was a copy was built and finished in 1980, paid for with community donations.  The original building was used as a stagecoach inn for a few years, then it served as a hotel, as a place were the community gathered, and even as a boys boarding school.  The museum is now furnished like a victorian home.

I found the kitchen the most fascinating, with its wood stove, ice box, wooden drain boards, and water pump.  What a lot of work food preparition was back then!  As for washing clothes, that looked like even harder work, with the wash board, and pre-agitator bucket, with what looked like a metal toilet plunger with which to move the soapy clothes.

While I am happy to be focussed on present again, I do recommend a visit to the Stagecoach Inn.  It felt so realistic, I could almost imagine dusty cowboys coming through the front door!  Here is a link:  http://www.stagecoachmuseum.org/Stagecoach_Inn/stagecoach_inn.htm

Post and photo by Janna Orkney.  (The photo of the front of the museum shows lights and tables being set up for a social function.