EARLY VICTORIANS : A New Cottage Tour at the Discovery Museum Lets Youngsters Get in on Turn-of-the-Century Life

Ask an adult to discuss the late Victorian period and you’ll either get a blank stare or a windy dissertation. But recently, a group of young researchers had some refreshing thoughts on the subject:

“Mushy.”

“Soft.”

And (my personal favorite) “Ewww!”

These 2- to 4-year-old historians, members of a Huntington Beach play group, were taking part in the Victorian Cottage tour, a fledgling program offered for preschool children by the Discovery Museum of Orange County. Developed by program director Nancy Robins with the help of local early-education specialists, the Victorian Cottage tour lets children experience first hand the smells, tastes and textures of life at the turn of the century in a virtually unrestricted setting.

If you’re familiar with the Discovery Museum’s centerpiece, the carefully restored, antique-filled Kellogg House, you can breathe easy. The Victorian Cottage program doesn’t take place there. Instead, it is housed in a modified portable classroom tucked into a corner of the museum’s Santa Ana property. The building, dubbed Great-Great-Grandma’s Cottage, has an interior outfitted to resemble a parlor, kitchen and bedroom typical of a late Victorian home.

Compared with the Kellogg house, these are modest digs. Rag rugs cover only a part of the scratched linoleum, and a blackboard betrays the building’s former identity. Technically speaking, it’s not a place for a purist.

But although Great-Great-Grandma’s Cottage may lack authenticity, it compensates with accessibility. Children are free to touch and explore practically everything there, an invitation this group didn’t have to hear twice.

With the help of docent Jo McCarthy, who was dressed for the occasion in turn-of-the-century garb, and three other tour leaders, the children spent nearly an hour happily absorbed. After a brief introduction and story time, McCarthy gave her audience a hands-on introduction to items great-great-grandma herself might have used. They caressed a bearskin lap robe, cuddled in a handmade quilt and examined a pair of tiny children’s boots and woolen socks. From there, the group scattered through the building as the four adults offered simple demonstrations, gave facts and answered questions.

In the parlor, visitors could try their hands, and feet, at an 1880s pump organ or gaze at antique photographs. Kid-size knockoffs of period clothes and hats awaited in the bedroom. In the kitchen, they squeezed lemons for lemonade and “churned” whipping cream into butter or had a tea party with a battered but authentic tea set.

The tour concludes with a visit to the “garden” (a concrete patio) where kids can scrub clothes using a washboard and tub, sniff fresh herbs or unearth root vegetables in a digging trough.

The opportunity to handle and play with items from the past not only has play and educational value, Robins said, but also teaches respect.

“We give the children basic rules, but this is not a ‘don’t touch’ kind of thing,” she said. “The kids, even the young ones, appreciate that, and they take care of the things in the house.”

The tour was an eye-opener for 4-year-old Mackenzie Cameron. But even after testing straight lemon juice (see “Ewww,” above), he seemed puzzled when asked where lemonade was found in the days before frozen concentrate.

“On lemonade trees?” he asked.

The tour is now limited to groups of 10 or more, but on Nov. 1, the Victorian Cottage program will open to parents and children for self-guided tours every Saturday, and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Monday from 9:30 to noon.

What: The Discovery Museum Victorian Cottage Tour.

When: Tours are Tuesday through Friday at 9:30 a.m. Advance registration is required.

Where: The Discovery Museum of Orange County, 3101 W. Harvard St., Santa Ana.

Whereabouts: From the Garden Grove (22) Freeway, exit at Haster Street. Turn left on Garden Grove Boulevard, right on Fairview Road and right on Harvard. Parking is free.

Wherewithal: $2 for children, $1 for adults.

Where to call: (714) 540-0404.