The Highland Folk Museum

One of the best museums Jim and I saw in Scotland was the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore. It has displays presenting the history and culture of the highlands from early times until the 1930's, but I enjoyed the early village best. In all, the museum houses over 12,000 artifacts, and there's no admission fee, although you are encouraged to leave a donation. There are even docents around to answer any questions.

Quern stone for grinding grains

Dr. Isabel Frances Grant founded the museum in 1935. Then, it was located on the Isle of Iona in a former church building. In 1939, the museum moved to a larger facility on the mainland. When Dr. Grant retired in 1954, the museum passed to a trust administrated by four longstanding Scottish universities: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasglow, and St. Andrews.

Years later, an 80-acre tract of land was purchased in Newtonmore to create the outdoor museum with room to exhibit more of the highland culture. It opened in 1987. Besides reconstructing the early village, over the years, the museum has acquired more historic buildings for display, depicting different phases of the Highland's history. Many of the movies and shows with an early Scottish setting were filmed here.

Being a history major and loving to read and write historical fiction, I was in my element. My biggest regret is that I didn't have more time to explore the museum. We had about two hours to eat lunch in the cafe onsite and see as much as we could. It wasn't nearly enough.

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