Creswick: museum, farmers market, pizza and the American Hotel

Creswick was chosen for overnight accommodation as a convenient location between our visits to Beaufort and Clunes in August.  Surprisingly, it was so much more than a place to sleep.  We spent more time than we expected with visits to the farmers market, splendid heritage buildings, the local history museum and the shops.  The town has a rich goldrush history and a vibrant active community.  In fact, we were could have spent much more time there if we had not had plans to visit Clunes before we drove home.  

The American Hotel Creswick

 90 Albert Street, Creswick

 

By the time we arrived to check in for our accommodation at the American Hotel, it was late afternoon.  The hotel dates back to the gold rush in Creswick in the 1850s and has seen the population deccrease from 250,000 in its heyday to 3170 in the most recent census.  Patrons included the artistic Lindsay family and it is part of the Lindsday trail.  It was the Cobb & Co depot for stage coaches, the setting for political meetings and hosted the local community bank.  
 

The bar had a great ambience with pea soup green walls and an assortment of historic photos as you would expect.  I wanted time to look around and have a drink if we were staying longer than a night.

Our bedrooms were basic with a shared bathroom.  We weren't there too long so we didn't need much.  I was happy with a comfy bed and the tea and coffee making facilities in a cupboard.  

I peeked into the function room. because it looked rather grand  It is called the Lindsay Room in honor of the local artists.  It has an ornate mirrored fireplace and pictures around the wall

Less fancy but cosy is the dining room.  I went through around dinner time and was surprised how busy it was.

A walk about town! 

 

Before we went out for dinner I had a walk.  I always like to see the place where I am staying and I had decided to go get some herbal tea bags so we could have a cuppa tea.

I headed for the IGA supermarket.  We were impressed at how much vegan food could be found there.  This is is a sign of a country town full of tree-changers!

 

I also passed the Odessa at Leavers restaurant where we planned to eat.  It was built in 1856 and is the oldest building in town.  I didn't book and when we entered the place was heaving with not a spare seat in the house.  Ella Hooper of the band Killing Heidi was performing so it was booked out.  And the kitchen closed at 6.30pm.  It made me sad to be unable to eat in the cosy space with sparkly fairy lights strung around the rich red curtains, lamps and stone walls.  We really need to return to Creswick just to eat here.  And of course next time I will book!

Raffas

84 Albert Street, Creswick 

Fortunately Sylvia had read that Raffas pizza joint had vegan cheese.  It did not have the ambience of Odessa but the pizza was great.  I was pleased with the August special: a Spinach and Ricotta pizza that was drizzled with hot honey!  The hot honey took a fairy ordinary pizza to new heights.  Sylvia enjoyed her vegan Margherita pizza.  

Creswick Market

19-21 Victoria Street, Creswick

By good luck, we were at Creswick on the 3rd Saturday of the month when the Creswick Market was being held at the neighbourhood house.  It was lovely with lots of stalls, great artwork on the water tank and buskers.  I only wished I had some coins to put in the buskers's basket when they sang Whole of the Moon by the Waterboys.
 

Firstly we check out the food to go, having not have breakfast.  We settled on Pierogi Darling.  Who could resist a cute name and gorgeous set up with swirly orange tablecloth.  It was interesting chatting to the friendly owner who said she had been selling different meals and found that pierogi was the most popular.  

So we have pierogi for breakfast.  It was excellent.  Mine were fried potato and farmers cheese pierogi with sour cream, sauerkraut, a pickle spear, herbs and a drizzle of paprika oil.  Sylvia had the vegan buttery potato and chives pierogi with the sides.  It was a great way to start our day!

Another stall I really loved was Gypsy Weaver.  They made soft toys with recycled yarn, fillings and buttons.  Every toy was different with a name and backstory on a little card.  It was great fun to read the cards and look at all the different designs.  They also set up a loom at their stall so we could watch the weaving.

We enjoyed checking out the plant stall.  In the background is some gorgeous butterfly wall art on a shed.  I really liked how it was in the grounds of the neighbourhood house with the community artwork.

A good farmers market always has an amazing baker.  We bought a loaf of pumpkin and onion sourdough to take home.  A good loaf of bread is the best souvenir!  To keep us going we also had a bread stick (batard?) with lovely fried onions baked on as a topping.

There was lots more to see.  We had a taster of a warm alcoholic spiced apple cider from Daylesford Cider.  It was the perfect drink for a winter's day.  I told the stallholder that I would buy it if it was non alcoholic.  He miraculously produced a non alcoholic version and I bought a six pack of the cans.  I was amused by the neurodivergent fridge magnets and stickers and made a purchase.  One  that resonated with me was one saying "I am multi-tasking.  I can listen, ignore and forget all the same time".  They didn't have a fridge magnet so I bought one saying "My computer must be broken.  I keep hitting the escape key but I am still at work."  I also loved that one stall had lots of heat packs in different shapes to ease pain in knees, forarms and necks.  

Creswick Museum

70 Albert Street, Creswick

I hadn't planned to go to Creswick Museum but once I saw it, I was keen to visit.  It is in the former municipal chambers.  It was built in 1876 when the Borough of Creswick was wealthy with gold rush money.  This imposing Victorian two story building is built to impress with a loggia entrance, rows of arched windows and a balustrade around the roof and a grand spiral staircase in the middle of the interior.

The reception counter has a giant Alfred, the eponymous pudding from Norman Lindsay's classic children's book, The Magic Pudding.  He is a cantankerous character and perhaps put there to glare at anyone who is unhappy that the museum will only take an entrance fee in cash.  Not because the staff are behind the times but because their previous EFTPOS machine had problems that has sent them looking for a new system to take electronic payments.  I had a chat to the women at the counter who were very friendly and helpful.  With our local museum considering new designs while it is renovated, it is interesting to hear about others' experiences.

Modern museum theory is that clutter makes it too hard to take in anything so they are discerning with choosing less objects for more attention.  I confess that I didn't have much time and was so tired after leaving home the morning after finishing up at my old job that I still didn't do a great job of taking it all in.  But I did leave with a few highlights, which is all that the museum curators expect.  The photo above is of the Colonial Art Room

 

I really loved the Creswick School's Roll of Honour in tribute to students who served in World War I.  I have seen many honor rolls but ones with photos are unusual.  To see all the faces of those young men who went to war is quite touching.  (Our history society has so many donated to them because no one wants them any more.  However they are too large to be easy to store or display many so they are a constant challenge.) 

 

The most memorable item was the Clifton Billy.  Creswick holds the unenviable record for having the worst gold mining disaster in Australia.  A sudden flooded mine trapped 27 men on Monday 11 December 1882.  When the rescuers reached them on the Thursday, only 5 men were still alive and survived to tell the tale. Some of the dead had written messages to their families on their "crib pails" (in which they took their meals down the mine.)   This is the only known artifact from the disaster.  It is inscribed "Goodbye dear mother, sisters and brothers: Philippa my dear girl. John Tom Clifton".  The words are written behind it because it is difficult to read it almost 150 years later.

I almost gave a cursory glance at this room but was glad I had a paper guide for each room and found it was the Lindsay room.  On display is some of Lionel and Darrly Lindsay's artworks as well as some family photos and an ornate vintage organ.

Then it was time to go upstairs via the grand spiral staircase.  On the landing were letters from the goldfields.  If I had had the time, I would have loved to stop and read them but time was tight by now.   The letter that included a  lovely landscape sketch was the one I appreciated most.

 

I took this photo because I loved the huge painting hung above the door and the lovely wooden display cases but I didn't stay long enough to take much in. There seemed to be lots of rooms to wonder through if I had the time.

My eye was caught by this portrait of John Curtin who was a great Australia's prime minister during World War II.  I had been aware that he had lived in Brunswick but had not known that he was born in Creswick.

I liked the way the notices were arranged in this display case.  The one that attracted my eye was was the notice on water restrictions in 1930.  Watering the garden was restricted to 3 hours from 7pm on three nights a week.

The final room I came to was the former Council Chambers.  When the building had been converted from the municipal offices into a museum, this room was preserved.  Most of the furniture dates back to the end of the 19th Century and was used for decades in this room.  On the walls are photos of early councillors and a couple of large portraits.

 

Sylvia was not interested in the museum so she went down the main street (Albert Street) to browse in a vintage shop (55 Albert St) and then on to Il Bello cafe for a latte.  I met her there after I had dragged myself away from the museum.  It was time to leave Creswick and get the car to head to Clunes.

You can read more about our trip on my post about our visit to the Cyril Callister Vegemite Museum, Beaufort and I plan to soon write about our Clunes visit.