March 2, 2019 - Saturday - We were in Anaheim, CA today to see historic Founders' Park. Anaheim was established in 1857 by a group of fifty German colonists. The two architectural highlights here are the Mother Colony House and the Woelke-Stoffel House.
The Mother Colony House was one of the first buildings constructed in Anaheim and is classified as an American Territorial style cottage, built of redwood and consisting of three small rooms.
Madame Modjeska, the famous Polish actress, stayed here while her Arden House was being built.
There is a mock water tower on the property.
A beautiful barn has also been built here to showcase many Anaheim artifacts.
These are early German grave markers and wooden fencing which surrounded a family's burial plot.
The Woelke-Stoffel House is named after two of its owners, John Gottlieb Woelke and Peter Stoffel. This home is one of the most beautiful Queen Anne designs in Anaheim. It was built in 1894 during Anaheim's citrus era.
A harpist serenaded all of today's visitors.
This built-in china cabinet is lovely.
There are three fireplaces in the home, two are back to back on the first floor and one in the master bedroom on the second floor. All were fabricated in Germany and were shipped "around the horn," prior to the construction of the Panama Canal.
This is the fireplace in the upstairs master bedroom.
The public tours at the park are only given once a month, so we decided to come today in spite of the rain. The docents are great and all dress in period costumes. It was a great adventure!
Before the park adventure we had lunch at the nearby Ruby's Diner. Ruby's has about 35 locations, mainly in SoCal and it has locations on the historic Southern California piers of Balboa Pier, Huntington Beach Pier and Oceanside.
Judy had their "Original Malted Waffle Combo" with eggs and sausage. The taste of the malted waffle is fantastic!
My choice was their "California Benedict," which is two poached eggs served on a toasted English muffin, grilled tomato slices and avocado slices, then ladled with their delicious Hollandaise sauce. It was awesome!
