Everytime I drove from College Station to Austin, I drove through Caldwell. The drive through Caldwell city as seen on TX-21 isnt anything remarkable at all. Just another small town in the vast expanse of Texas. Each time, there was on road sign that caught my eye. It was a spartan brown raod sign with white letters on it. It simply said “CZECH MUSEUM <-”.
“Czech Museum, and here?”, I thought to myself each time, and told muyself that I have to see it sometime. That sometime took over 3 months to arrive. It finally did yesterday. It was mostly thanks to a good friend of mine who was so thoroughly bored with College Station that she was desperate for a change and not knowing what to do about it, she called me. If anything has to do with getting out of college station, I am always interested. In my infinite wisdom , I sugessted Caldwell, and she agreed.
Caldwell is just 25 miles from college station, so we set off late at about 1:00 in the afternoon. I saw the raod sign that said “Czech Museum” and promptly turned left. I was entered the interior of caldwell, and the sight it offered had me surprised, amused and pleasently so. Unlike College Station or many other towns in the state, this town had a personality. The business district (historical) looked like it was all frozen in time, different buildings at different periods. On every street, one saw architectures typical to the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and present day. Every building has a distinct style and unique taste. Almost like each one of them had a story to tell. They were only waiting to be asked. The ‘arrested development’ in time, the rustic set up, the laid back attitude of the people all gives the town a personality that one cant help but admire. One gets a feeling that the place is welcoming you with a whole hearted smile.
After about 20 minutes of fruitless search for the museum, we stopped at an antique store for directions. Nice lady at the store directed us to the civic (and visitors) center. The civic center had a small room full of czech artifacts from the beginging of czech settlers’ arrival to texas. The czechs first settled in texas in 1840s and developed into successful agricultural communities. The artifacts suggested that musical and theatrical performances played a central role in the culture, which was kept alive through folk songs from their homeland.
Caldwell hosts the annual Kolache festival. Kolache is a czech pastory made of bread, meat and fruits. Coldwell is famous for it and is called the ‘Kolache Capital of Texas’.
At the civic center we discovered that muesum is open only if a prior appointment has been setup. So, we set one up at the spot and were there in half an hour. The museum turned out to be a house that was set up in the traditional style of the late 19th century with period furniture and artifacts that reflected the czech culture of that time. At the museum we were greeted by Maria, an old lady who takes care of the place. She is a second generation czech born and raised in Caldwell. The place hosted maniquines with traditional dress worn by the czech community during the late 19th century. It was hard to believe that it was all hand done with croquet. Some of the designs on the dresses, gowns and quilts were too exqusite for it to have been done single handed. The glassware and porcelin on display had amazing decorations on them. The cut glass shone like diamond in the incandescent light.
The place had a lot of stuff from imported from Czech Republic to keep it looking authentic and genuine. I couldnt help but admire the effort that the curator was taking in trying to keep the heritage that they hold so dear to them. There were a lot of reproductions based on old sketches, designs and paintings of that period. The place was renovated with the style and colors as they would have been in a czech home in the 1860s.
We spent over 2 hours in an area no bigger than 750 sq.ft. Maria had a lot to talk about. She virtually traced the history from 1830s to present day with amazing details from her own life and that of her parents and children. She talked of the world war and how it affected her. She talked of life as she led during her younger days, before there was running water, before there was electricity availabel in caldwell. It is one thing to see inanimate objects on display, and something unreal to hear a first person account of what they meant to the people back then, to construct a mental picture of life during those times as described by someone who has lived that life and has come to treasure it.
There were suveniors for sale, all of them were imported from Czech Republic, and so too expensive for me to afford it. We I told Maria that I wish I could buy one of them, but couldnt afford it because I was a student, she was generous enough to give me a couple of cook books saying “I know how it is to be a student, I couldnt possibly take any money from you. I am just glad that you took the time to come a visit this place”. I didnt know what to say. I dropped some money into the donation box as a small thank you for everything.
We bid her goodbye and left for College Station. This is one visit I am not likely to forget in a long time. I will probably go back there again, soon. I am yet to have a Kolache from a restaurant there. My tryst with Caldwell couldnt possibly be over with that still pending :)
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