Silverdale Pioneer Village

The village grew out of a local effort to save the buildings of early Silverdale, and it now holds four settler houses, a chapel, a post office and a museum on one green block in the old part of the township. Rooms are furnished to their period, from the schoolmaster's bedroom to a kitchen laid out for a working family, and the gardens are planted with what would have grown here in the 1800s. The museum building traces the district's shift from Maori occupation through timber milling, gum digging and farming, taking in Orewa and the Whangaparaoa peninsula. Mature oaks and open lawns give younger children room to run between buildings, and there is a gift shop on site. Volunteers are usually on hand to explain what a room was for, which turns a short look around into a longer one for children who start asking questions.