When my wife's sister visited with her husband for the Fourth of July, they listed Vermont's Shelburne Museum among the places they wanted to see.

As Michigan residents, they have Henry Ford's Greenfield Village nearby, with its collection of historic homes and businesses. We knew Shelburne could hold its own in any comparison.

Lots of people collect. It might be stamps and coins or perhaps fishing lures. More wealthy individuals might treasure Shaker furniture or fine art. Electra Havemeyer, heiress to a sugar fortune, married James Watson Webb, whose mother was a Vanderbilt. She could choose to accumulate entire collections -- plus houses, folk art and lots of other items. Her acquisitions became available to public viewing with the opening of Shelburne Museum in 1947.

HUMBLE FARMHOUSE

Since Ellen and Ed were making their first visit to Shelburne, we began with the classics.

No one misses the Round Barn, since admission tickets are sold there. Then a first glimpse over the hill reveals two special, must-see treasures. First comes the Ticonderoga, the now-legendary steamboat that was the last such passenger carrying vessel on Lake Champlain. Then we headed for the Colchester Reef Lighthouse, with its cozy quarters for the keeper and his family, relocated here after its working days ended in 1933.

We selected a couple of houses for our itinerary. Stone Cottage re-creates the humble living quarters of a farm family. The kitchen, with its brick hearth and bake oven, fills half of the downstairs. The weathered clapboard Prentis House typifies that of a more prosperous household. Features include fine wood panelling, wide plank floors and a parlor with wood painted to simulate marble.

Representative of structures with a community function are the classic brick Meeting House, with trompe l'oeil wall painting that simulates carved panelling, and the Castleton jail, a two-cell affair built of slate reinforced with iron, and used into the 1940s. Of course, no one should leave Vermont without seeing a genuine covered bridge. The 168-foot, two-lane, arch truss specimen here was originally built in 1845 to cross the Lamoille River.

ADIRONDACK THEME

I've long accepted the impossibility of seeing all of Shelburne in a single trip. Laudably, the admission ticket now grants re-entry for a second consecutive day, but stamina is required to complete the tour even then. For our most recent visits, we've chosen to pick a theme and concentrate on that.

This time, I focused on exhibits related somehow to the Adirondacks. Initially uncertain as to how much I'd find, I came away surprised at how much attention Shelburne pays to our side of Lake Champlain.

My appreciation began right in the Round Barn. I've written recently about Sacandaga Lake, created in the 1930s when Conklingville Dam was built to control flooding downstream on the Hudson River. Several villages were covered by the waters impounded in the newly formed lake. So was Sacandaga Park, one of the Northeast's most famed amusement parks.

There are probably still a few people around who remember riding the carousel at Sacandaga Park. Somehow, that carousel was saved from the flooding. Now, all the animals are part of the Shelburne Museum collection. Carved by the Dentzel Carousel Company of Philadelphia, the examples covering the barn walls speak to impressive craftsmanship. It makes me wish we were one of those communities fortunate enough to still have our own carousel.

RUSTIC ELEGANCE

Beach Lodge pays tribute to the concept of the Adirondack hunting camp. James Watson Webb's father, William Seward Webb, owned one of the finest, Nehasane.