Andrew Carnegie

The Andrew Carnegie birth place in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father was a weaver in Scotland. Andrew was born in 1836. He emigrated to the United States of America as a 12 year old with his family in 1848. His father worked in the weaving business in America and finally peddling linens. He died seven years after coming to America and Andrew became an economic help to the family.



The museum is free and shows where he lived with the other 7 in his family. The bedroom is on the left of the roof.

He started as a bobbin boy earning $1.20 per week for 7 12 hour work days. (Check out the Stanley Mills blog), then progressed to running messages for the Telegraph company and then as being a telegrapher. He earned $2.50 a week at this job. He was sought after because he was trustworthy.

By the 1860's he had investments in railroads, sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to JP. Morgan in 1901 for 480 million. In 2013 that would equal 13.6 Billion.






He devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. With the fortune he made fro business, he built Carnegie Hall, founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution or Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie museums of Pittsburgh. 

Read the quote below on the left. He lived this quote.


He became the wealthiest man in the world and had given away 90% of of his wealth at the time of his death. That probably made him the happiest man in the world.

He lived what he preached.

The first 1/3 of your life get all the education you can.
The next 1/3 of your life make all the money you can.
The next 1/3 of your life give it all away for worthwhile causes.

SCOTTISH Woolen Mills

This is the owner of the Scottish Woolen Mills.

It costs the farmer 1.5 pounds to shear the sheep and he sells the wool for 50-75 pence, so he loses money on the sheep for their wool.

Brian is the owner of 3,500 sheep in the highlands. He presents 3 lectures each day on sheep and sheep herding with dogs. It was MOST informative and interesting.

The black face sheep are Scottish and very hardy. They are born in the Highlands and live there and return there if taken somewhere else. There are no fences or corrals and no sheepherders. Scotland does NOT have bears or wolves as predators.

 The white face sheep are not as hardy and live on the lowlands. They are called the White Cheviot. 15% of these males have horns, the rest do not. Their wool is not good for anything except rugs.

This was so exciting. We watched the sheep dog herd Ducks. It takes one year to train a dog. I am not sure about the ducks.

The dog uses eye domination to get the lambs or in our case the ducks to do what the master wants.

The master uses different whistles and words: "That will do,Come, Lie down, Come by, Away."When the master is at 12 o'clock the dog is trained to be at 6 o'clock. When the master moves to 9 then the border collie moves to 3.

The average lamb weighs from 99-353 pounds. The record time for shearing is 28 seconds. Most shearers now are women. They must be VERY strong.

Sheep are kept until age 5 and then their teeth start to fall out and then they can't eat very well. They only have teeth on the bottom. They are grazers. Older sheep are breeders. Some breeds will have twins or triplets, others single births.

This sheep just drops his wool whenever and wherever, no shearing for him.

Mule Sheep are bred for meat. They are a cross between a low land ram and a hill ewe. The lambs are mature at 10-14 weeks so that allows for a quick return on investment.

Argyll's Lodging

Enjoy a glimpse of the home life of a wealthy Scottish nobleman of the 1600's. This is the most complete townhouse of its kind. Its interior has been reconstructed to look as it may have done when Archihbald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, lived here.

This was our great guide showing us the spit that would be turned by wee ones for about 3 hours at a time.

This was a new concept to have a wide stairway that women could come up and down with their ball gowns.

Argyll fancied himself to be a king and so used the ROYAL colors which could only be obtained by crushing thousands of sea snails. Instead of fading with the sun, the purple actually became more vibrant.

The dining room tables allowed both leaves to be dropped after eating and then the tables were pushed to the sides so that all could enjoy dancing.

Doune Castle

This near complete castle is set ink the Stirlingshire countryside and was built as the home of Regent Albany, Scotland's uncrowned king. This castle is one of the best preserved 14th century castles in Scotland and was the seat of the Earls of Moray.  It was originally built for Robert Stewart. It was later a royal residence, a dower house for widowed queens and a Jacobite prison. It was partially restored in the 1880's.

If any of you saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it was filmed here as well as Game of Thrones and Outlander.

Imagine this if you will.

Inside courtyard.

This was the Lord's Hall. Today it was the Lady's Hall.

Legend has it that the bridge across the River Teith was built by James Spittal, the tailor to James IV. James had arrived at the ferry that once operated  where the bridge now stands without any money. The ferryman refused to take him across. So, out of spite, he had the bridge built to deprive the ferryman of a livelihood.

A beautiful view from the top.

The best 2 KNIGHTS around.

7 Swans a Swimming-that is 7 Sygnets Swimming

Here ye, Here ye! The Swans have hatched and there are now 7 cygnets. They were born ? but we saw them for the first time Wednesday and would like to present them to you. They have been named. Daddy: Alexzander, Mommy: Hope, and then the 7 in no particular order: Terrier, Robert (alias Robert the Bruce), Callender, Susan, Elijah, Ila and last but not least Celia.

The mommy and daddy were pulling grass off the banks for their wee ones.

The daddy was eyeing us to make sure we didn't get too close.

This is called up-ending. The daddy swan is looking for food on the bottom. They usually just eat grasses but may occasionally eat very small bugs that get in the water.











Swans are closest relatives of ducks and geese and the largest member of the waterfowl family. They are the largest flying birds too. When they stand with their necks outstretched they can be 5 feet tall and weigh 33 pounds. Their wing span is 10 feet. So watch out if you upset them. They have been known to be aggressive.

They are a symbol of love and fidelity because they mate for life.

Heather Gems

The business started out making furniture. When a few pieces would get knocked off, they used that to make unique jewelry. It became so popular the jewelry business became their product.

Heather has a beautiful lavender flower in the summer. In order to encourage new growth, the old heather stems are gathered when they are no longer nutritious for wildlife, and then brought to the factory. 

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Check out their blog and you can see the wealth of items that they make. Everything from ballpoint pens to Scotty dogs to fridge magnets.