I visited Caledonia, Missouri, population 158, this afternoon.

The weather, a muggy 113 degree heat index, was stereotypical of a Missouri summer afternoon. I parked my car along the side of the road and stepped out into a blanket of heat.

My first stop was Old Village Mercantile. Dated “Post-1909″, the Mercantile building is among the many in Caledonia on the National Register of Historic Places.

I’ll do another post about the store itself, but this post is all about the fun discovery I made on the second floor of the mercantile; a room filled with old hats, gloves, purses, antique wedding gowns, and more. In short, this room was like a giant, antique, little girl’s stage for playing dress up.

So what did this big girl do?

Funny Blue Hat, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Funny Blue Hat, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Funny Peach Hat, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Funny Peach Hat, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Funny Yellow Bonnet, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Funny Yellow Bonnet, photo by and of smalltowngirl

Life’s short, and you’ve gotta have some fun. There’s plenty of amazing history in Caledonia, and I’m planning to tell you more about that history another day.

For tonight, I encourage you to take time to try on silly hats.