Just down the street from Linda's, well, this picture sort of speaks for itself.
Well I have been here now for over 5 days and I really have not told you much about Cromwell. My friend lives in a heritage building, the old court house. It was built in 1872. They have added on to the back of the building. The facade is protected so anything they do to the facade has to be accurate to the time it was built. It really is quite a neat building and when I was here 6 years ago, they were still in the original building and we were without running water, outside of the toilet flushing. We worked with a makeshift kitchen and went to the local squash courts for a shower. So needless to say, seeing the change this time around, is quite compelling. (pictures of it in another post yet to be created!)
Old cromwell Living Museum - now mostly shops for artists.
Old Cromwell is an interesting little place. Cromwell itself was born in 1863 following the gold strike. The bulk of the old main street, Melmore Terrace, was submerged with the creation of Lake Dunstan as a result of the Clyde Dam, in 1992. Prior to the loss of some of the buildings however, a group got together and saved some of the buildings carefully deconstructing them and then reconstructing the bulidings. The photo above shows a recreation of some of the stores of the old main street. The buildings are used by local artisans now. It has a wonderful frontier feel about it.
The old stable
Most days that I have been here I go for my jog along the lake and river and start in the Old Town. I love going to places like that and just getting immersed in its history. It may be a little place but it is replete with history. More on today’s Cromwell coming soon.
You say it is small and it certainly looks very small – what is the population of the town?
Ummm … Mum, that is the living museum – the reconstruction of the Old Cromwell. I still have yet to write my entry on today’s Cromwell. The current population is about 3,500.