Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register columnist Dave Bakke took a look at the surviving momentoes salvaged from the fire that destroyed the Pig Hip Museum on Route 66 in Broadwell, Ill.
It’s a terrific read, including the description of longtime proprieter Ernie Edwards poking at the body of a dead squirrel that’s believed to have caused the electrical fire.
Here’s one of the striking passages:
The morning after the fire, there were newspaper photos that showed Ernie standing in front of his burning museum. He was smiling.
Smiling as 70 years worth of work burned? Yes. It might be because he has experienced so many losses, mostly to cancer. His mother, for one. Two wives. Others. He even had The Big C himself. What burned in the museum were just things. Even his collection of ceramic, stuffed, plastic and porcelain pigs. Just things. That’s my take on his smile, anyway.
“You know, I think it’s just starting to sink in now,” Fran said. If it is, I couldn’t tell. Ernie seemed as jovial and full of stories as he ever was.
“If he hadn’t started that museum,” Fran said, “he wouldn’t be alive.”
It’s recommended reading.
On a related note, Geoff Ladd of Logan County Tourism has set up a Web site, PigHip.com, so longtime patrons can send in their memories and photos. The Illinois Route 66 Association is doing it, too.
Wouldn’t it be great if the roadies all sent Ernie ceramic, stuffed, plastic, or porcelain pigs to help him rebuild his collection? It wouldn’t have the same cachet as a museum in an original building on Route 66, but it would give him an inkling of how much the road appreciates him.