Nordic Museum

The community of Ballard in Seattle has always been notable for its Scandinavian, or Nordic, flavor. Located near the sound and on  Salmon Bay and the ship canal, it was originally a fishing community. Nordic immigrants were attracted to this community and have a rich history here.

For economic and opportunity reasons, Nordic peoples began their great migration to America in 1825, continuing through the 1920's. 

The new Nordic Museum recently opened in Ballard, so we organized a field trip with several of our retired teacher friends who have Scandinavian ties, as do Tom and I. 

As I write this, DeDe is celebrating her 91st birthday. She is recovering nicely from a knee replacement, but then developed tendinitis in her "good" ankle, so we borrowed a wheel chair so she could get around more comfortably. She reluctantly allowed herself to go for a ride. 

 The Nordic peoples were great boat builders. 

 The museum has artifacts from the past: things brought from the old country, and articles made by immigrants who settled here in the PNW.

The museum  traces the immigrants to America, focusing on their contributions to our blended cultures and industries, and even very modern contributions to the arts.

Jan is standing under a fiber arts piece in the current art exhibit in the gallery.

 We couldn't decide what this is, but it's interesting. 

 The building itself has dramatic architecture. There's an old viking style bout out in the courtyard. 

 A central hall is called the Fjord Gallery, with bridges between galleries.  

 A video display shows on a large screen in the "birch wood", with "stone" seats.  

I love the Viking style carvings and designs. 

Carl Linnaea collected this specimen we know as Twin Flower in 1732. Linnaea was the Swedish scientist who created modern taxonomy, the classification of plants and animals. This plant's scientific name is Linnaea borealis, the only plant named after him. 

This stave church model reminded me of the wonderful examples we saw in our travels in Norway and Sweden. 

This reproduction of a rune stone is inscribed with a dedication from a wife to her husband who "went to Jerusalem and died in Greece". 

Outside the window, boats line the canal. 

Since we spent such a long time here, of course we had to have lunch. 

Here's mine, a Nordic open faced sandwich. 

My Swedish/Norwegian grandparents eventually settled in Oregon, where they were loggers. 

Nordic regions had their own traditional festival dresses. This one is from Dalarna, where my paternal grandfather was born. 

We had a good time studying exhibits and remembering what we saw and learned while traveling in Scandinavia. 

We also learned quite a bit about the egalitarianism of the socialist democracy form of government in the Nordic countries, There is a lot we could learn from them.