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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - November 2006 by Katherine Tandy Brown Victorian Vestiges
If walls could talk, this National Register of Historic Places brick property, built in 1857, could fill volumes. In 1900, the John Parker Smiths bought the Greek Revival structure, adding Colonial Revival updates, including its classical columned portico. Thus, the house is named Adsmore, so the tale goes. “Our guides are costumed and stay in Victorian-era character,” says Ardell Jaratt, the vivacious curator of Adsmore. “On the 45-minute tour, they speak to guests as if the family is actually living here and stepped out of the house for just a minute.” And as you tour the house, the family story unfolds. One of the Smiths’ five children, Kate, married a St. Louis shoe magnate, while another, Mayme, married Robert Garrett, a National Bank examiner and director of insolvent banks under Andrew Mellon. On a trip abroad, a third child, Selina, returned with an intriguing older man in tow – Dr. John Osborne, who had been Wyoming’s third governor – to whom she became engaged. (None other than William Jennings Bryan, one of a number of statesmen from the nation’s capital to visit the house on Jefferson Street, spilled the news to the press about the liaison.) Adding color to the list of Adsmore connections, Osborne was a doctor and surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad, one of the largest sheep ranchers in Wyoming, first assistant secretary of state for the Wilson administration and chairman of the Democratic National Convention. Once married, he and Selina maintained homes in Washington D.C., Wyoming and Colorado, but frequently stopped by Princeton. Visit at the right time of year, and you may well drop in at the time of Selina’s 1907 engagement or her wedding the same year. You may even see some of the actual gifts she received. “Because we have so much information and such a rich collection of family memorabilia,” says Jarratt, “we’re able to change settings eight times a year. That’s one thing that makes us more than just a house museum. We change the floral arrangements, china, clothing and smaller accessories.” Settings include a 1906 Ladies’ Luncheon, where you’ll learn about the Merry Maids, as the young ladies of the house called themselves and their friends; a 1905 Victorian Wake, with Grandmother Kevil’s dress, obituaries and black-lined stationery; the Black Patch Tobacco War and Night Riders’ Seige; and Katharine’s First Christmas (1901) – the Christmas Candlelight Tour – when 60 candles light every nook and cranny, a pianist plays old holiday songs, and refreshments await in Adsmore’s new visitor center. Continuing with total Victorian immersion, a Carriage Shop specializes in unusual gifts true to the era, such as a tussie mussie, a flower holder every proper Victorian lady carried to put under her nose when walking past an unpleasant odor. “People say they feel as though someone really lives here,” Jarrett says, “and that by the time the tour is over, they really know the family.” At least part of that is due to the fact that the bulk of household items, including furniture, most of which is American, are original to the family. A new Adsmore event in 2007 should be quite entertaining. Ever the romantics, Victorians liked to dress up and wear costumes at Halloween, but not scary ones. A late October Fall Candlelit Tour will feature a “play party,” with fortune telling, tealeaf reading and bobbing for apples. If you just want to stay in the here and now, mark your calendar for the Adsmore free Concert on the Lawn, a late afternoon of big band or jazz outdoors on the Sunday before Labor Day. BYO chair. Whenever you choose to come to Adsmore, be prepared for a bit of time traveling and vicarious living. “We tell a lot of stories here,” says Jarrett. “But I love to envision those young ladies traveling abroad atop their camels, knowing they were wearing corsets and layers of clothes…and the camels with all those fleas!” Schedule your high-button step back to the Victorian era at (270) 365-3114 and check the Web for dates of setting changes at www.adsmore.org
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2006, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2006, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Unless you’re a centenarian, you probably haven’t met any members of the Smith or Garrett families who lived in the western Kentucky community of Princeton. But after a tour of their restored home, you’ll feel as though you knew these fascinating, lively and learned folks, who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band