Highland Folk Museum facts for kids
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| Location | United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 57°04′11″N 4°06′10″W / 57.069708°N 4.102865°W |
| Type | independent museum  |
| Website | http://www.highlandfolk.com,%20https://www.highlifehighland.com/highlandfolkmuseum/ |
 Location of Highland Folk Museum
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The Highland Folk Museum is a special place in Newtonmore, Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom. It's like a time machine that shows you how people lived in the Scottish Highlands a long time ago. It's an open-air museum, which means you can walk around and see real buildings that have been moved here or rebuilt to look like they did in the past.
The Highland Council owns this museum, and High Life Highland helps run it. A clever lady named Dr. Isabel Frances Grant started it in 1935.
Contents
A Journey Through Time: The Museum's Story
How the Museum Began
In 1930, Dr. Isabel Frances Grant put together a big exhibition in Inverness. She collected 2,100 old items to show what life was like in the Highlands. This inspired her to create a permanent museum.
In 1935, Dr. Grant used her own money to buy an old church on the island of Iona. This became the first home for the Highland Folk Museum. She called it Am Fasgadh, which means "the shelter" in Scottish Gaelic. Its goal was to protect old Highland items from being lost forever.
Moving and Growing
The museum quickly grew too big for its first home. In 1939, it moved to a larger place on the mainland in Laggan, Badenoch. However, World War II made it hard to collect new items or for visitors to come.
So, in 1943, Dr. Grant bought a big Georgian house called Pitmain Lodge in Kingussie. On June 1, 1944, the museum opened its doors again to the public.
What the Museum Collected
At Kingussie, the museum aimed to show how people lived in the Highlands long ago. It collected many different things, including:
- Furniture and household items
- Tools for farming and daily life
- Gear for horses
- Cooking and dining tools
- Pottery, glass, and musical instruments
- Sports equipment and weapons
- Clothes, fabrics, and jewelry
- Books, photos, and old papers
The museum also collected stories, songs, and information about old beliefs. It had handmade items like baskets and wooden objects called treen. Dr. Grant even built replica buildings, like an Inverness-shire cottage and a Lewis blackhouse (a traditional stone house). They even had live demonstrations to show how things were used.
New Management and a New Home
When Dr. Grant retired in 1954, a group of four Scottish universities took over the museum. In 1956, George ‘Taffy’ Davidson became the new curator.
In 1975, the Highland Regional Council started managing the museum. They brought in Ross Noble as curator, who began to modernize the exhibits. He made the displays more open and brought back live demonstrations, called Heritage in Action days.
In the early 1980s, the museum found a much larger site in Newtonmore. This new area was about 80 acres (32 hectares). It had four main parts:
- Aultlarie Croft: A working farm from the 1930s.
- Balameanach: A growing area with buildings moved from other places.
- The Pinewoods: A forest area with walking paths.
- Baile Gean: A recreated Highland village from the early 1700s.
The Newtonmore site opened in 1987. The Kingussie site stayed open alongside it until 2007.
Modern Times
In 2011, High Life Highland, a charity, took over running the museum day-to-day. A new main building, also called Am Fasgadh, opened in 2014. In 2015, the museum's collections were officially recognized as a "Nationally Significant Collection" by Museums Galleries Scotland and the Scottish Government.
Exploring the Museum: What You'll See
The museum is divided into three main areas, each showing a different time in the Scottish Highlands:
- The Pinewoods: A natural forest area.
- 1700s Township: A village showing life in the early 18th century.
- The Open Air Section: Buildings from the 19th to mid-20th centuries.
As you explore, you might see staff members dressed in traditional Highland clothes. They often show how people used to do things, like weaving cloth or making rope. It's a great way to imagine life in the past!
Buildings with a Story
Some buildings at the museum were built there, but many were moved from other parts of the Highlands. They were carefully taken apart and then rebuilt at the museum.
- In 2000-2001, the museum brought in a sub-post office from Glenlivet.
- In 2011, they rebuilt a thatched cottage based on an old photograph from the 19th century. This house used to stand in Grantown-on-Spey.
- In 2012, a croft-house built in the 1920s was moved from Carrbridge. Museum staff and students helped move this building about 22 miles (35 km) to its new home.
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Knockbain School, located in the Open Air Section
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Daluaine Summerhouse, located in the Open Air Section
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Stockman's House, located in the 1700s Township
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1930s Raleigh lady's loop frame bicycle
