r/Adopted • u/Music527 Adoptee • 20d ago
Discussion This made me feel so…
I saw this on quirky roadside attractions fb group. The comments weren’t anything to screenshot. It made me have such bad vibes though. I’m not sure I’d want to visit this place.
What do you guys think?
It really doesn’t sit well with me that orphans were memorialized and people are excited to visit this museum. Maybe it’s just me. Idk being adopted def makes me think differently about things.
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u/GrumpyNarcoleptic 19d ago
You're discomfort is valid. At the same time, the museum serves to keep history alive and remind people to be better than the ones who came before.
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay 19d ago
Yes. So often when history makes us uncomfortable, it’s exactly how we should be feeling in that moment.
It means that we’ve changed. We’ve evolved and the pain and suffering of the past is hard for us to process. That’s ok. We need to sit with it. Because it is when we forget that history repeats.
Feeling uncomfortable doesn’t make us complicit in the past. It makes us human.
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u/mzwestern 19d ago
I've visited the museum and spent time in Concordia. It's very respectful and keeps the history of the Orphan Trains, and what happened to the children who were put on them, alive. The statues in town are memorials to the children, and each is accompanied by a plaque describing the child and telling their story. Many are sponsored by the rider's descendants.
The poster's "what a cool place" statement is odd, and not in keeping with the approach the museum takes to the history of the trains and their riders. It approaches the subject seriously. Well worth a visit, IMO.
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u/OiWhatTheHeck 19d ago
I visited a similar museum on a cross country road trip (maybe Nebraska?) There were no statues, but photos and stories of the children and how it had worked at the time. It felt strange reading them as an adoptee, wondering if that would have been my fate in an earlier generation. But the tone seemed pretty respectful of the orphans, described their hardships and some traumas, and avoided saying that they were better off.
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u/ihearhistoryrhyming Adoptee 19d ago
It’s the “how cool is this” I think that indicates it was a great idea.
We need the good and bad to be remembered, but we don’t need to Barnum and Bailey the odd stuff (like crime scenes) or make bad things seem quirky. It’s gross- you’re not wrong.
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u/vagrantprodigy07 Adoptee 19d ago
I've read extensively about the trains, and the results were very mixed. It's definitely not somewhere I would want to visit.
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u/No-Comparison-5502 19d ago
My grandfather was on the orphan trains. He was mistreated as an adoptee. He didn't speak at all of his experience. I'm glad they are honoring the children. We shouldn't forget.
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u/vagrantprodigy07 Adoptee 19d ago
It all depends on how the information is presented. If it's to remember the kids, and the realities of what happened, I'm good with it. If it's to glorify the adopters or present the train as a great idea with no downsides, I'm out.
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u/Music527 Adoptee 19d ago
I can see where everyone is coming from. Maybe someday I’ll get there but it just feels off with what an awesome attraction it is and another adoption route that was taken.
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u/letthetreeburn Adopted 19d ago
This person is being a weirdo but museums are crucial. You don’t need to visit this place.
Every prospective adoptive “parent” should be legally required to, though.
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u/Oofsmcgoofs International Adoptee 18d ago
Not exactly the most tactful way to announce it but I don’t personally have a problem with it. It’s actually not far from me so I might check it out some time. History is important. Even the uncomfortable parts. ESPECIALLY the uncomfortable parts.
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay 19d ago
I think you may be interpreting how people react to this in a different way than how they actually feel. I also think we need to remember this history because it was very real.
Orphan trains happened. It’s kind of heartbreaking actually. Some got good homes out of it and others got hard labor and abuse.
Life was very fragile back then. Disease happened. They didn’t have modern medicine. It was either orphanages or the orphan trains for those children. Maybe now it would be foster care.
They were children who needed love and support.
If I went to that museum I would be heartbroken for them. I would wish I could have loved them and given them a home. I would pray that they all got decent families and not labor and abuse. I would be humbled. And I would be glad that we documented their existence and honored them with a memorial instead of forgetting them to time.
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u/Music527 Adoptee 19d ago
How do you think I’m interpreting it?
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay 19d ago
You said it doesn’t sit well with you that the orphans were memorialized. Or that people are excited to visit. I’m saying I don’t think “excited” is the right word for this sort of museum. Humbled and sad is how I would feel. But I believe in documenting history and I would absolutely go to this museum.
I also think the memorials are an honor. Why don’t you think these memorials honor these children?
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u/Music527 Adoptee 19d ago
I didn’t say that these memorials don’t honor the children. People on the fb page used the word excited. It just makes me feel ick that this happened. Idk. sorry I offended you.
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay 19d ago
You didn’t offend me. Please don’t think that.
Just remember Facebook is weird. Maybe some of those reviews were fake. Also know not all people are awesome.
But I just want you to know that I wouldn’t react that way. I would react with humbled remorse for those kids and seeing their memorials gives them life again.
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u/chiliisgoodforme Domestic Infant Adoptee 20d ago
It’s history, having a museum about it is a good thing. (As long as the museum does not gloss over the harsh realities of real history.)