When we take a train trip, we often see small train stations. Hwabon Village is located in Gunwi-gun Gyeongsangbukdo and has a whistle stop. Hwabon Station, the entrance to Hwabon Village, was built in 1930 and still has the original water tower, so visitors can feel the history of this place. Hwabon Station was called the most beautiful whistle stop by train fans. Like the station, Hwabon Village feels authentic and historical, too.
When you go out of the station and walk along the stone wall, you can see many murals on the wall. These paintings make Hwabon Village more beautiful. The theme of the wall paintings in Hwabon Village is “The Heritage of the Three States” because the Koryeo Dynasty monk Il-yeon wrote the The Heritage of the Three States in Gunwi-gun Gyeongsangbukdo. Also, when you keep on walking along the stone wall, you can see stone structures (dolmen) in the garden.
The San-sung Middle School located in the center of Hwabon village offers many attractions to people with the theme of “When mom and dad were children”. This small museum created from the closed school has old wooden desks and chairs, heaters, organs in classrooms, and posters in the back of the classrooms that show old days. Actually, in the music tea shop in an old classroom coffee or tea are sold. When you leave the classroom and go to the other side of the hall, you can see the old street that has realistic stationary shops, book stores, photo studios and comic book stores. For example, the old comic books that mom and dad enjoyed reading during childhood are displayed in the comic book stores. Old toys and stationary are displayed in the stationary shop. The most notable things are the streetlights. The streetlights give the impression of walking on the streets on a dark night.
When you go out to the playground, the first things you see are many different kinds of sweets. You can see many old sweets that you can’t easily find nowadays such as jjondeugi, dalgona, candy. After that, there is a place where you can experience old games. You can enjoy the games that mom and dad played as children such as tuho, jae-ki-cha-gi, hoop and hopping.
Hwabon village is small, but this place has many beautiful attractions. This is a place to come alone and walk on the streets for a change of feeling. In addition, this place is good for a trip with your friend for fun or with your parents to relive memories. How about going to Hwabon Village with your parents and listening to their childhood stories and enjoying their experiences?
