Pella Iowa is a beautiful little town founded by immigrants from Holland, so the town has a distinctive Dutch feel.Downtown storefronts.Pella hosts a Tulip Time festival the first week of May every year. The town is full of tulips everywhere. Unfortunately, we were about 4 weeks late.The Klokkenspel. Five times a day there is a musical show featuring wooden figures depicting aspects of life in Pella. There is a show in the front (street) side, and then another one in the rear.Minister baptizing an infant.Scenes on the back side.Pella Opera House.More Dutch style architecture.Vermeer Mill, part of the Pella Historical Village.Wooden shoes.Pella was settled in 1847 when 800 Hollanders arrived. With winter approaching, they realized they would not be able to construct wood houses fast enough so they constructed sod houses such as this one.Sod house interiorWood worker’s cartWood worker’s shopBakkerij – Dutch BakeryCookie cutting machineWood cookie moldsHeritage Hall – Costumes from the Netherlands various provinces, early 19th to mid-20th century. In this scene, The Pantry, the man is wearing a Protestant costume from the village of South Beveland in the province of Zeeland.Kitchen – costumes from the village of Volendam in North Holland.The costumes from Volendam are the most recognizable costume of the Netherlands.The Marken costume is one of the most colorful in the Netherlands. The people of Marken believed the color red was a symbol of health so they included it in many aspects of their attire.The most noticeable aspect of the Bunschoten-Spakenburg costume is the kraplap, heavily starched to keep its shape, covering the entire top part of the body.(Left) Gelderland women’s Sunday costumes were black wool or cotton, including the long sleeved bodice and pleated skirt. (Right) Because Urk was an isolated village, its costume remained largely unchanged for nearly 400 years. Urk women wore silky, brightly colored brocade over a black bodice.Dining Room – the woman is wearing a Protestant costume from the village of South Beveland in Zeeland. Protestant costumes were less ornate than Catholic, and the hats were oval rather than rectangular.Flags of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands.Gigantic street organ – it still works!Puppet show theaterSome puppetsTypical Viersen bedroomViersen kitchenViersen parlorUlrich’s Meat Market Dutch Klompen (wooden shoes)Log cabin, possibly built by settlers prior to the arrival of the Dutch settlers in 1847. This cabin was discovered under the siding of a farm storage building and moved to this location in 1968.Interior of the log cabinWyatt Earp’s childhood home, now a part of the Pella Historical Village.
