The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

Today, on my way home after class, I visited a small museum called Voelker Orth Museum Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden. It is located in Flushing, Queens. The museum’s mission statement is “through the experience of an immigrant family’s 1890s home, preserves and interprets the cultural and horticultural heritage of Flushing, Queens and adjacent communities to engage their ever-changing populations.”

The gardens are well preserved, containing the flora of the Victorian Age, and continues to be managed in a similar fashion as it was about 100 years ago, using natural fertilizers and herbicides. By doing so, it attracted many birds, butterflies, and bees to the garden. Also the house structure is preserved in the way that was very common in Flushing back in Victorian Era.

Even though, the museum was small, I enjoyed seeing little details of everyday lives of people 100 years ago. The museum had a garden, which also was very small in size, but was good to see how people used to naturally grow their plants, using environment friendly fertilizers and herbicides that attracted many birds and butterflies.