REXBURG - IDAHO POTATO MUSEUM - CHESTERFIELD

It's going to be a longest drive of the trip, so I was off shortly after 6:00.
It was also the first rain of the trip, but it didn't last long. Welcome to Idaho (again).
BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. I was here on a prior trip but did not get one of those Ricks College t-shirts from Napoleon Dynamite for myself. I did this time.
Southern Idaho is a rather Mormon part of the state. Here's a big temple.
Another hour of driving to the...
Idaho Potato Museum. You knew there had to be one, right?
It's a small museum with lots of potato-related things. There were also some potato fast facts posted on the walls.
For example, to help convince the people of France to farm and eat the potato, Marie Antoinette often put potato blossoms in her hair.
Say what you will about Dan Quayle, but he can laugh at himself. This was a letter to the vice-president from the Idaho governor the day after Quayle had his potato misspelling event. At the bottom of the letter is a potato signed by Quayle.
Another fast fact. Potato plants produce flowers. The fruits that grow from these flowers look a lot like green tomatoes, but they are not edible. They are poisonous. They contain high amounts of solanine that can make the eater very ill.
Now the farm equipment room.
A Milestone potato cutter. Fast fact. The average American eats approximately 110 pounds of potatoes each year.
A planter used in the late 19th to early 20th century.
A potato sorter from the 1890's to 1920's. Final fact. 62% of Idaho's potato harvest is used in processed products, 29% are fresh and 9% are grown for certified seed.
When I looked up the museum before the trip I saw that they had a cafe.
Sure it's 10:30 in the morning, but it's never too early for a baked potato. It was quite good, as one would expect.
Around noon and on the road to...
...Chesterfield ghost town, established in 1880.
Fortunately this was another one of those well-preserved town sites.
The town was founded by Mormon settlers.
The Higginson-Holbrook Home (1903).
There is an interesting mix of brick and wooden structures.
Just imagine a cold, snowy Idaho morning and needing to evacuate your bowls. That short walk to the outhouse would seem so long.
The Denmark Jensen Cabin (1884). Denmark Jensen was the first Danish Mormon born in the U.S. His great-grandson is slowly restoring the cabin.
Since this was an LDS town, there was a tithing office.
Not everything in town survived intact.
The Tolman Loveland Home. Judson A. Tolman was the bishop who also helped build the meeting house and tithing house.
I think the sign says tithing granary. So they had to give a tenth of their grain too?
I wonder who got to have the brick houses and who had the log cabins.
Inside the Holbrook Mercantile is a small museum.
There was clearly a lot of restoration work done to the buildings out here.
The LDS Meeting House, dedicated August 28, 1892.
On those cold winter days, I would think you would want to get there really early to get one of those seats near that stove.
The framed banners from left to right:                                       PRIMARY Suffer little Children to Come unto Me of Such is the kingdom of Heaven Chesterfield Choir The Songs of the Righteous are a prayer unto Me BISHOPRIC OF CHESTERFIELD ORGANIZED JUNE 5TH, 1884 TRUTH AND VERTUE V.L.M.I.A. OF CHESTERFIELD V.L.M.I.A. OF CHESTERFIELD That last one seems redundant.
A piano...
...and the original organ from 1892.
There's a room in the back with a lot of pictures of white men and a few white women.
Another piano and an oven with a stove.
I can understand why the Mormons settled here. It is beautiful.
I didn't go into this building. It looks like a church, but wasn't the meeting house a church? Do Mormons keep backup churches? It probably had open space for some ceremonies and other events.
The Barlow Call Home. It looks remarkably modern.
The sign on the front of the cabin says Robinson, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that someone called Robinson lived here and also say that he was a Mormon.
The Ruger Dugout Cabin. They had to use a ladder to get down to the lower level. That's probably far too many pictures, so let's move on.

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