Written by Luna
Out of all the museums I’ve visited, the Roedde House Museum stands out as one of the most engaging. It offers something unique for tourists interested in looking at elegant antiques and learning about people who lived in that era.
A journey to the past.
The whole structure was built in a Victorian revival style. I was impressed by one of the main characteristics of this style: “bay windows.” It allows more sunlight into the room, lighting the building without installing more lamps. Our tour’s docent is an elderly lady with a great sense of humour and an excellent storyteller. I had a great time listening to the exciting stories, and their lives were surprisingly relatable to me, especially when I saw the little tea sets and lovely china dolls in the girl’s room. It reminded me of when I bought a sewing machine and made outfits for my toys.
A few memorable “First times”.
We visited it on November 1, and I experienced a few “first time” that made this trip more unforgettable.
In the museum lobby, they offered red poppy flower brochures for visitors. That’s the first I’ve heard of Remembrance Day. Another guide in the museum told me the meaning of these brochures. I chose to pick up one of them and wore it on my coat to send my respects to the soldiers.
During my visit, I saw an Edison Amberola phonograph – a model I had never seen before. Even in the movies, I am only familiar with the ones with jump pins. The most incredible thing that happened to us was that our guide showed us how to play music on it! The sound was more powerful than I had expected, sending me to an old, compelling period.
An experience of telling a spooky story.
I worked with my teammate Akela to create our own version of the story about the Roedde family. A few things we discovered during our research gave us a strange feeling. For instance, there were rumours that the architect’s ghost wandered near his architectural works after he was killed by his wife’s new lover. Besides, the docent told us that the fire that almost burned out the house happened the year after the Titanic sank.
We gathered all those creepy things and tried to deliver our story by incorporating AI-generating pictures. At first, I failed to tell the entire story with vocal variety because our scripts were too severe and dull. So, we rewrote it in more casual and engaging words and immersed ourselves in the story. Fortunately, we did a great job in class and even better than we performed in rehearsal. Although the task was to tell a chilling tale, I laughed multiple times while watching other’s performances, and I really love this assignment.