humboldt county mill farm historical museum

We moved to Humboldt, IA a couple of years ago, so we were naturally curious about the town's history. The Humboldt County Historical Museum was an educational find! The mill farm house is set up like a family is still living there. The kitchen was particularly interesting to compare to our modern cooking facilities. The school house is set up with a (creepy) teach mannequin, but it's otherwise interesting to see a one-room class with an old wood-burning stove in the middle. There's a barn with different scenes set up - blacksmithing, farm equipment, and an old dentist's office. There's an impressive rock collection, but many of them are not identified - and they are stored away in drawers, so they really aren't visible to visitors. You can look through them with a museum volunteer present, but many are just labeled "black rock" or "brown rock" instead of their actual geologic names. Then there's another building with meeting rooms and some antique cars and sleighs. There's a small room with old maps, newspapers and telephone books, where you can do genealogy research by appointment. We want to look up the names of people who used to live in our house, just out of curiosity. The church that was moved to this location is still used for weddings. The gardens around the buildings are really beautiful! It would make a great backdrop to wedding photos. The lull in our visit was the log cabin, kettle shed and jail areas. With all the work that went into staging the museum house and barns, these buildings seemed sparse. The museum is staffed by elderly but enthusiastic volunteers, so be prepared to make a donation and listen to some winding but interesting stories. You might consider calling ahead and making an appointment, because there's often only two volunteers on site - so if one of them is giving a tour, the other one needs to stay in the office. Overall, we had a pleasant afternoon and we learned a lot more about Humboldt County and history in general.

A wonderful Americana museum located on several acres. It has 12 buildings built from 1866 to present day. The buildings include a jail, church, school, outhouse and a family home. The newest building houses many items that have been grouped together in separate displays, such as office equipment, doctor's office, post office and many more. There are many clothing items that are kept in an archival room that are brought out on a rotational basis. The 2 story Itatlianate home built in 1878 is beautifully furnished with items of the era. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a $5.00 pp charge for a docent lead tour. Well worth the fee.