{"id":305,"date":"2013-10-23T19:47:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T19:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/?p=305"},"modified":"2020-10-21T04:14:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T04:14:48","slug":"small-town-big-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/2013\/10\/23\/small-town-big-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Town, Big House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Just a few blocks away from the country\u2019s\u00a0tallest working windmill<\/a>\u00a0in the host city of the annual Dutch festival,\u00a0Tulip Time<\/a>\u00a0stands the Scholte House. This historic building has remained in the center of Pella, Iowa, since the town was settled in 1848. What started as a simple six-room house is now a 30-room mansion.<\/p>\n

The original owner of the house, Hendrik Scholte, was born in the Netherlands. As a reverend, he said he believed in preaching directly from the Bible and did not agree with the established doctrine of the King.<\/p>\n

At the time, it was against the law for a preacher to preach to more than 20 people in an outdoor gathering without a permit. Scholte continued to preach despite his disagreements with the king, resulting in a series of arrests throughout a period of 10 years.<\/p>\n

Finally he decided to move to America so he could live and preach freely. The reverend bought 18,000 acres of Iowan soil, starting the town of Pella.<\/p>\n

Today the\u00a0Scholte House<\/a>\u00a0showcases some of Hendrik Scholte\u2019s personal treasures from the Netherlands as well as furnishings that embody his Dutch heritage.<\/p>\n

One of the oldest and most popular rooms is the library. It is the only room in the house with carpet, wallpaper and ceiling paper dating back to when the building was first completed. The library has a collection of aging books, including a Latin law book from 1664 and old Hebrew prayer books.<\/p>\n

Coins from the Netherlands and one Hebrew coin possibly dating back to Biblical times are also on display. Visitors can see the iron chest used to transport all of Scholte\u2019s money, a chest so heavy it took four grown men to carry it.<\/p>\n

One of Scholte\u2019s most prized possessions, however, was a shawl. When Abraham Lincoln was running for president, Scholte volunteered to help with the campaign. Later he was invited to attend Lincoln\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n

On the day of the event, Scholte wore a wool shawl that was coincidentally almost identical to the one Lincoln was wearing. The shawl is still exhibited in the museum as well as the walking stick Lincoln sent to Scholte as a \u201cthank you\u201d for his efforts during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Alex Kaizer, a University of Minnesota graduate student, grew up in Iowa. His interest in old houses and mansions led him to the Scholte House. Kaizer says the antiquity and Dutch d\u00e9cor separates the Scholte House from other museums he has visited. The China plates on display, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the hand sewn quilts draped over wooden bed frames all add to the 19th century ambiance.<\/p>\n

Watching over all of these treasured artifacts is Beverly Graves, director of the Scholte House museum for three years. Graves explains the museum plans to open a new room at the end of March called the Scholte Lincoln Reading Room. Artifacts, pamphlets, videos and audio concerning the Civil War and Scholte\u2019s life during that time will be showcased throughout the new room.<\/p>\n

Graves says she tries to add personal touches to the rooms to help showcase their original functionality and d\u00e9cor, aspects that distinguish the Scholte House from traditional museums.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>\u201cQuite a few rooms when I started working here felt like a museum,\u201d Graves says. \u201cThere were just things on display, so I\u2019ve moved some furniture around to make it feel more like how [the Scholte family] would have used it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves explains she recently recreated what she believes to have been the maid\u2019s room, decorating it with authentic period pieces including a cot, a rocking chair and an oil lamp to make the room feel genuine.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Verburg, director at the\u00a0Vermeer Windmill<\/a>\u00a0in Pella, says visitors have commented on the museum\u2019s \u201chomey\u201d quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house has been restored back to what it looked like,\u201d Verburg explains. \u201cPeople say they feel like the Scholte family could walk in at anytime when they\u2019re visiting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visiting Pella\u2019s historical sites, like the Scholte House and Vermeer Windmill, is a great way for tourists to learn more about the town\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] all give people a taste of what life would have been like in the mid-1800s,\u201d Verburg says.<\/p>\n

The Scholte House is filled with artifacts from centuries ago. However, Graves says her favorite part of the museum is the photographs hanging throughout the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the family pictures,\u201d Graves explains. \u201cWe have one wall that we have all the family on, and I like sharing the story of who\u2019s who.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the ones who call Pella home, those stories hold the rich Dutch history they celebrate with such pride.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a few blocks away from the country\u2019s\u00a0tallest working windmill\u00a0in the host city of the annual Dutch festival,\u00a0Tulip Time\u00a0stands the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[188,18,34],"tags":[163,76,74,75],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destination","category-explore","category-iowa","tag-iowa","tag-pella","tag-scholte-house","tag-tulip-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmn.truman.edu\/detours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}