Hythe Museum Buckboard - Hythe, AB
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 55° 19.580 W 119° 33.404
11U E 337798 N 6134082
Between the railway tracks and Highway 43 in Hythe stand a pair of old log buildings - The Hythe Museum and Tourist Information Centre.
Waymark Code: WM116MV
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 08/25/2019
Views: 1
Front and (not quite) centre at the museum is a grey fiberglass horse hitched to a fairly original looking buckboard, also painted grey. Not being a connoisseur of horse flesh, we can't tell you what breed he is, only that he's not a quarter horse or an Appaloosa. In full harness and ready to hit the road, he appears to be impatiently swishing his full tail at small flying critters while he waits.
The old Sunderman Tack Shop is the Tourist Information Centre. In 1920 one of the 1st area residents, Kelly Sunderman, built a log tack shop which has since been restored and moved to the site as a reminder of those early days. Standing to the south of the Sunderman Tack Shop is the Tolief Omlid House, also a log structure, built in 1917. The main (and only, really) museum building, it has been filled with donated artefacts representative of early life in the Hythe area. Built on a farm 4 miles west of town, in 1993 it was donated to the museum and moved onto the site. The house was originally a home built for a mail order bride. Unfortunately the groom missed the bride and the house was never lived in.
Yet another museum which didn't open early enough in the day, we were unable to see the inside of either building and had to satisfy ourselves with what we were able to find on the museum grounds. Even at that it was worth a stop.
Outside, on the grounds are several larger artefacts, including a 1928 John Deere "D" tractor, this fiberglass horse, a hand operated water pump with a small well house built around it and two wagon wheels, one a survivor and one not quite a survivor. Given that this is also the Hythe visitor Centre, there are also a couple of dedicated benches and a few picnic tables, with trees and several containers overflowing with flower - altogether a good spot for a picnic under a shady tree.
