A Walk Through The Village

 

When you arrive at the Village, you will register, pay your fee and meet your guide at the first large brick building. We call this Dom # 1, and it is a reconstruction of a communal dwelling of the time. You will see the large kitchen area where teams of ladies took turns cooking for the household, which could number up to 50 souls.
Next to this is the hospitality or visiting room. Here formal occasions took place: meetings, prayers and singing, child instruction, marriages, funerals and so on. There are various displays in this room and informative notes for consultation. At present, one notable exhibit consists of the clothes Peter V. Verigin was wearing when he met his untimely death.

Upstairs there is a wide hallway and eight large bed rooms which contain furnishings and displays of clothing of the day. The rooms range from the appearance of the earliest settlement, then the more modern days of the thirties. Personal items of the pioneers are included as well as the beds, spinning wheels, and handicraft tools of the day. Many examples of the fine linen clothing will be seen, as well as early items from Russia such as camel bags and clothes irons and personal family furnishings.


Once you have had this tour and read some of the interpretative signage, you are ready to come outside onto the beautiful grounds and admire the statue of famous humanitarian philosopher Lev Tolstoy, one of three such statues in the world.

Now you are ready for the matching brick building. However, it only appears similar from the outside. Inside you will discover a special exhibit which changes yearly, a photo archive and continuous films about the Doukhobors.

Along your tour you will see the textile display room, featuring more fine linen work and an ancient loom which serves as a display rack for more examples of clothes. Here are also harness and shoe making equipment, as well as sewing machines dating to 1900.

  




A model of the Doukhobor Discovery Centre.

  
Next door is the Village bookshop and art gallery. The art is a revolving display of Doukhobor artists and the bookshop contains not only books but Doukhobor craft items such as ladles and rugs for sale as well. There is also a table of free hand-out writings and magazines.

On the perimeter of the grounds is the blacksmith shop with tools of the day and hand made garden implements, a wood working lathe such as would be used for making spindles and spinning wheels, drills for metal work etc.

As you pass the barn, you will come to the steam sauna. All of the washing of the village took place here: clothes, babies, and the occupants themselves. Here is an ancient washing machine and old furnishings, as well as the traditional cedar inside accouterments.

A further stroll through the traditional orchard leads you to a barn wood shed which contains plows, a portable sawmill, an apple chopper and logging equipment.

Your helpful guide will answer questions, and in the meantime, you can enjoy your visit for as long as you have time. Many people have such an enjoyable time that they return every year to see the new exhibits and to enjoy a leisurely tour all over again.
BACK: The Village Arts Gallery and Craft Centre
  
NEXT: New Exhibits

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