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November 19, 2012

Hollywood Meets Mary Todd Lincoln

As you know, Spielberg’s Lincoln hit theaters this weekend. I’m not sure if everyone has been inundated with details about the making of the film, but here in Lexington it has been big news. Kentucky, and Lexington in particular, has close ties with Lincoln and the Civil War. After all, Lincoln was born here and married a woman from a prominent Lexington family, Mary Todd. Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was also born in Kentucky and was educated in Lexington at Transylvania University. In fact, the house he lived in during college is only about four blocks from the Todd family home. So yeah, anything Lincoln is a big deal here.

What sticks out to me in listening to and reading about the making of Lincoln, is the preparation that focused on objects and places from the past.

Part I: The Mary Todd Lincoln House

Sally Field, who portrays Mary Todd Lincoln, made more than one trip to Lexington to visit the Mary Todd Lincoln House, which was restored in the 1970s and is now operated as a museum. Of the experience she said, “It’s important in understanding her makeup as a person that you take a look at her home.”

: Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Image via The PlayWright Flyer Guy

The Todd house was built sometime between 1810 and 1820 either by the original owner, William Palmateer, or by local builder Mathias Shyrock (father of the better known Central Kentucky architects Gideon and Cincinattus). The house was operated as a tavern/inn until 1832 when it was purchased by Mary Todd’s father, Robert. Robert Todd was a wealthy businessman and politician who rubbed elbows with the likes of Henry Clay, “the great compromiser.”

Mary Todd was 14 years old when the family moved into the house. According to docents at the museum, Mary and her stepmother did not get along so Mary spent the majority of her time at boarding school, living at the Todd home only on weekends.

: The Mary Todd Lincoln House after restoration. Image via Wikipedia

In 1839 at the age of 21, Mary left Lexington for Springfield, Illinois to live with her sister and her brother-in-law. There she was the bell of the ball. She caught the eye of so many gentlemen that her brother-in-law remarked, “she could make a bishop forget his prayers.” It was in Springfield that she would meet and marry the young lawyer and statesman, Abraham Lincoln.

: Mary Todd Lincoln. Image via Women in History

After Lincoln won a seat in Congress, Mary and Abraham visited Lexington on their way to DC in 1847. They visited again in 1849 after the death of Mary’s father during the cholera epidemic, and again in 1850 after the death of their son Edward and the death of Mary’s grandmother. Mary’s stepmother sold the house in 1852 to settle Robert Todd’s estate.

After the Todd’s sold the property, the building was used for various purposes including a brothel (where the alleged inspiration for Margaret Mitchell’s madam, Belle Watling, in Gone with the Wind was employed) and a warehouse.

: The Mary Todd Lincoln House as it appeared prior to restoration. Image via the National Register of Historic Places

In the 1970s, restoration of the property was undertaken. It was the first historic site restored in honor of a First Lady. An inventory taken at the time the property was sold by the Todd’s guided the furnishing of the museum. It includes many objects once owned by the Todds and Lincolns.

: This Tiffany silver chocolate pot was probably purchased after Mary’s return from Europe in 1871. Image via The Mary Todd Lincoln House

Gwen Thompson, executive director of the Mary Todd Lincoln House, said Field was drawn to a number of family objects in the museum including Mary’s Tiffany chocolate pot and a mug given to her son Tad after the death of his brother. (According to an interview with Bob Edwards, Fields also visited several collections of Mary Todd Lincoln objects to better understand the woman she would be portraying.)

The Mary Todd Lincoln House was so important to Field’s preparation that she insisted her CBS Sunday Morning interview be filmed there. During the interview she commented, “I think it’s important that we as a country respect our own history and preserve it.” And answered, “I wanted to bring her home in the public awareness. I know it’s hard for these places to really keep them alive and keep them for posterity,” when asked why she wanted to be interviewed in Mary’s former home.

: Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Image via Accio Sally Field

“Progress, the way we are, you’d want to bulldoze it under and put in another parking lot. I wanted to talk from my own perspective that it’s important that it be there, that you could sort of walk around and feel Mary Todd’s history.”

And there you have it. Sally Field is a building hugger. Who knew?!

Check back here tomorrow for Part II, an installment about hearing history in the sounds of Lincoln.

November 20, 2012

Part II: The Sounds of Lincoln

My interest in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln was first piqued when I heard a story about the sounds used for the film on NPR. Okay, that’s not strictly true. My interest was actually peaked when I heard Daniel Day Lewis was cast in the eponymous role. A Brit as Lincoln? Quel horreur! But let’s get real, Lewis is one of the greatest living actors of our time, not to mention the choosiest (he’s only made 5 films in the last 15 years!) so the screenplay for Lincoln must have some meat to it. And seriously, just look at him! Spitting image.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. Image via NPR

But I digress… back to the sounds used in the film. From the ka-chunk of a carriage closing to the thud of boot steps, the sound sound designer for Lincoln went above and beyond to make the film sound authentic. Creating authentic costumes and creating authentic sets and/or using historically accurate sites so that a film looks right is one thing, but I’d never heard of going to so much trouble for sound.

Sound designer Ben Burtt, whose accolades include whipping up the iconic sounds of light sabers for the Star Wars franchise, dispatched a team of sound engineers across the country to record the sounds Lincoln did/might have heard in DC, South Bend, IN, and Frankfort, KY. Why? He told Guy Raz, “I felt, well, here’s a chance to get in touch with actual history. I always do research when you’re collecting sounds and making sounds for a film, and authenticity is normally not necessarily the prime directive in doing sound design. You’re always searching out sounds that have the right emotional impact and they may not even be authentic at all. But for this film I didn’t want to make guesses. I wanted to essentially capture the spirit of what might have been.”

The Sounds of St. John’s and the White House, Washington, DC

St.John’s Episcopal Church. Image via Wikipedia.

In DC, the sound crew recorded at St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Lincoln worshiped, and at the White House.

According to historical accounts, St. John’s figured prominently in Lincoln’s life in DC. He would often walk to the church in the evenings. “He was always alone,” said Hayden Bryan, executive director for operations at St. John’s. “The president would arrive quietly and leave before the services ended to walk back to the White House. He would sit by himself. He had no aides. No security. Before the service ended, he would get up. The worshipers didn’t even know he was here.”

Lincoln’s Pew at St. John’s. Image via Juicey Ecumenism

At St. John’s the crew recorded noises from head to toe, so to speak. They climbed into the bell tower to obtain the unadulterated sound of the bell tolling – a sound Lincoln would have heard from the White House just across Lafayette Square from the church They also recorded the creaking of the “Lincoln Pew” as Byran sat and stood and the sounds of footsteps on the floor boards. “These are the actual floor boards Lincoln walked on to get to this pew,” Greg Smith, film professor at American University and sound engineer for the film, said.

At the White House, they recorded a French clock purchased during Andrew Jackson’s administration that was on the mantel in Lincoln’s executive office. The sound is used in the movie in many scenes filmed in Lincoln’s office. Other audio effects collected from the White House included the sound of the latches as doors opened and closed, and the sound of someone knocking on those doors. As well as the sound of heavy boots on the White House floor.

The Sound of Lincoln’s Pocket Watch, Frankfort, KY

Recording Lincoln’s Watch. Image via KHS

“I could have recorded a watch that belonged to my great-grandfather, and the audience would have accepted it,” Burtt said. “But there is something sacred about working on a film about Lincoln.” Kentuckians would agree. As I mentioned yesterday, Lincoln is a big deal here in the Bluegrass State.

To record the ticking of Lincoln’s personal pocket watch, which is in the collection of the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS), Smith traveled to Frankfort, Kentucky. Where, according to museum director Trever Jones at the KHS blog, historyburgoo.com, “We set up in the ‘vault’ – the quietest and most secure room in the building – and began recording. Greg [Smith] has worked on numerous films and had chosen his equipment carefully. I attached a small microphone to the watch while Bill [Bright] positioned everything just right in a box to muffle ambient noise while Greg recorded. We recorded the watch open and closed in various ways until Greg pronounced that he had everything he needed.”

Lincoln’s Pocket Watch. Image via The Lexington Herald Leader

The circa 1860 watch had not been used in decades, but watch expert and KHS curator Bill Bright, reported it to be in perfect working order after examining it. The timepiece is a “yellow gold key-wind hunting-case pocket watch” with a porcelain dial from Tiffany and Company. It is believe that the watch was purchased by or gifted to Lincoln after he became president. It is speculated that Lincoln may have been carrying the watch the night he was assassinated at Ford’s Theater.

If you want to see and hear Lincoln’s watch, it is on display in Frankfort at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.

The Sound of Lincoln’s Last Ride, South Bend, IN

Lincoln’s Carriage at the Studebaker Museum. Image via A Little Touch of History

The carriage used to transport President Lincoln and his wife to Ford’s Theater the fateful night of his assassination is on display at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

The audio work was done by Donnie Rogers, owner of South Bend-based Grassroots Media. The audio session at the museum took about 30 minutes, Rogers said. To eliminate background noise, the museum shut down the air handlers on the air conditioning system and closed the overhead doors in that section of the museum. “We used a sound blanket to build a small room around ourselves,” he told the South Bend Tribune. The sounds of the carriage doors opening and closing and the the sound of it’s metal springs and suspension were captured for use in the film.

The carriage was built in the early 1860s by Wood Brothers of New York, an upscale carriage manufacturer of that era. It has a collapsible leather hood and fabric-covered padded seats. It is believed to have been a gift to Lincoln.

It’s in fragile condition, the carriage went through a careful process to stabilize it in 2007. During conservation, workers discovered the carriage originally wasn’t black, but rather painted dark green with burgundy, gold and white details with an elaborate cursive presidential monogram — A.L. — on each door. After Lincoln’s death, the carriage was purchased by a DC area doctor and used in his practice.

Despite all the trouble of traveling around the country recording “authentic” sound effects, the sounds in Lincoln are speculative. The creak of his pew at St. John’s Episcopal has probably changed since Lincoln last visited in the 1860s, the timbre of the bell may have changed over the 150-ish years, and his carriage certainly took years of abuse while in the doctor’s service that may have changed the sound of its springs, and suspension, and its doors opening and closing. Even knowing that the sounds are probably not the same as the sounds that Lincoln heard, the concept is intriguing and the effort put into these details is impressive. I know that when I watch the film, I will be listening extra close for the ticking of watches and clocks and foot steps – all the sounds that normally just blend into the background.

What you do you think about the sound extremes? Was it worth it? Have you seen/do you plan to see Lincoln?

October 3, 2013

deTour to Manhattan Society Queen’s Court

Mrs. Clara Bell Walsh (1884-1957), once described by a newspaper as, “the famed Clara Bell of Kentucky, who knows more about horses than any other woman in America and so much about society that society wishes she would be stricken with a loss of memory,” has many claims to fame.

She was the first resident of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. She is nvented the cocktail party. She had an elephant at the St. Louis Zoo named after her. (Don’t worry, it wasn’t a slight – she was very fond of elephants.) And she rubbed elbows with movies stars and politicians.

Bell Place and its park like setting at the center of the Bell Court neighborhood in Lexington, KY was once the home to millionaire socialite, Clara Bell Walsh.

Her cosmopolitan and colorful life began in Lexington, Kentucky. The only child of businessman D.D. Bell, she was born into luxury. Their home, Bell Place, was one of Lexington’s largest residences. It was built upon the foundation of her grandfather’s Greek Revival mansion, Woodside, just outside of downtown. After her father died, she inherited a sizable trust fund that included Bell Place and its surrounding acreage. By the time Clara took control of her trust at just 21, she was a very, very wealthy young woman – in part because the property around Bell Place had been subdivided into the Bell Court neighborhood. Later, Clara and her mother gifted the house to the city of Lexington. Today, it is Lexington’s Parks and Recs department and its carriage house is home to the Studio Players, Kentucky’s oldest community-involved theater!

Bell Place (1884)

Bell Place, Clara’s childhood home, is large and handsome. Though its exterior has an eclectic mix of decorative elements, a strong Greek Revival theme unites them. The result is not the overly-wrought and effusive nature of some Victorian design. It is classically elegant. The strong Greek Revival influence was inspired by Woodside, the Greek Revival mansion (ca. 1854) of Clara’s grandfather, Henry, which stood on the site before it was destroyed by fire.

Henry Bell began his career as a store clerk in Baltimore, and died one of the most influential and wealthiest men in Lexington after proving himself as a sound businessman and financier. His home, Woodside, was designed by an important Lexington architect, Maj. Thomas Lewinski. It was a showplace. Conveniently located just outside of downtown, it was a suburban social center where Lexington elites paid calls, attended gatherings and had parties. In 1848, Mary Todd Lincoln described Woodside to her husband, US Congressman Abraham Lincoln, in a letter. “…[R]ode out to Mr. Bell’s splendid place this afternoon to return a call. The house and grounds are magnificent,” she wrote.

After Henry’s death, Woodside passed to Clara’s father, D.D. Bell. Not long after Bell and his wife, Sydney Sayre Bell (daughter of David Sayre), moved into the house, Clara was born. Unfortunately, when she was only a few months old, it burned. The fire that destroyed Woodside started in a servant’s quarters where an unattended lamp exploded. Though the Lexington Fire Department worked to save the house, its rescue was doomed by a burst hose, the absence of the engine horses, and exhausting the water supply from Woodside’s three wells.

D.D. Bell hired Cincinnati architect Samuel Eugene Des Jardins to reconstruct the mansion. Des Jardin blended the classic proportions and decorative elements of Woodside with current design trends to create Bell Place. Surviving blue prints and the architect’s notes indicate that Des Jardins used some of Woodside’s surviving components in the new construction, as well. Some, if not all of Bell Place rests on Woodside’s foundation. Walls that were not damaged and fit the new configuration of the house were also maintained. Much of the brick that was not scorched or smoke damaged was also incorporated into the new structure. (The bricks, incidentally, were made entirely on site during the original construction of Woodside). Elements that were not salvaged from Woodside were dictated by the architect to be of the finest quality and were carefully chosen.

Recessed vestibule entrance

Corinthian colums support the portico

Stained glass windows are featured in the transom of large triple windows of the Greek Style.

The Queen Anne brick parapet behind the portico is larger than Woodside’s Greek Revival parapet.

The columns on the porte-cochere are Romanesque and decorated with a stylized leaf pattern

The suburst design in the spandrels of the port-cochere are typical of the 80s and 90s before the Colonial Revival period.

This circa 1900 photograph of Bell Place (via University of Louisville Libraries) shows that Bell Place was once painted in contrasting colors to highligh the pilasters and other decorative elements

By 1884, Greek Revival architecture had fallen out of favor in preference of eclectic revivals of historic styles mixed with elements of middle east and Asian influences. The design of Bell Place reflects the trend, but is tempered by strong Greek Revival elements that mirrored the Bell’s beloved Woodside, particularly on the exterior. A good example of Des Jardins blend of Greek Revival and eclectic are the windows. As the National Register points out, they “have Victorian hoodmolds yet they are Greek Revival in appearance.” The triple windows on the facade are also Greek Revival, but the transoms are fashionable stained glass. Stained glass is featured in other windows, as well. The nursery designed for Clara has a triple window in the oriel with stained glass transoms depicting cupids- one learning numbers, one learning music and the other of a biblical motif!

Bell Place’s interior expresses the aesthetic movement more fully that it’s exterior. Interior decorations were profuse and opulent, having been carefully chosen for their quality and beauty. Interior finishes include Gothic, Queen Anne and Eastlake, Arabist, and Adams, as well as a Japanese influenced elements. (See photos).

Decorative leaded glass set in the front door

Decorative element on interiror door

Plaster detail on ceiling

The high wainscotting in the dining room is topped with a composition band heavily deigne to resemeble tooled leather

The formal sitting room and portratit of D.D. Bell.

Fireplace tile in the sitting room represents French or Dutchmen of the 17th c.

Main stairs may be Japanese influeneced

The transom above the front door is leaded glass representing garlands of flowers and leaves

The double glass front doors are beveled-edged with two vertical panels of acid-etched frosted glass.

The Carriage House to the rear of Bell Place was designed to have a Swiss Chalet effect – and was probably where Clara housed her award-winning pony, Fancy.

The Society Belle’s Court

D.D. Bell increased his suburban land-holdings with an eye to subdivide the property around his home after he observed electric trolleys spurring development at the edge of downtown. Though he died before implementing his plan, he left instructions for his wife to carry out the subdivision to provide income for Clara. His will also set up a trust for Clara that included Bell Place among other assets, such railroad stock and government bonds. By the time Clara was 15, she was worth over $600,000, not including Bell Place. That’s almost 2 million today!

In 1906, D.D.’s plans were finally implemented. The property around Bell place was subdivided into 134 lots, reserving 4 1/2 acres around the main house and its ancillary buildings. The sales substantially added to Clara’s net worth.

Typical bungalow

Dutch Colonial gambrel roof

Bungalow next to an Arts and Crafts four square

Colonial Revival inspired

Clay Lancaster’s childhood home

Clay Villa is the oldest house in the Bell Court neighborhood. Designed by Lewinski, it was built around the same time as Woodside’s consturction

An eclectic mix of early 20th century styles is characteristic of Bell Court

Bell Court quickly became a coveted neighborhood. It was near downtown, but was a “separate and quiet enclave defined by its physical boundaries and its neighborhood spirit.” The houses built on the property surrounding Bell Place are mostly cottages and bungalows with Arts and Crafts, Colonial Revival, and/or Dutch Colonial details. Architectural historian, Clay Lancaster, grew up in the neighborhood. In 1985, he recalled,

When I came from downtown, along Main Street, with its noise and smell of traffic, a great peace settled over me as I turned into the quiet of Bell Court. Many people walked, in those days, and people sat on their front porches in the late afternoons and evening, talking and visiting, while the children played together in the yard. Sometimes we could persuade my mother to perform on the piano in the living room, and some of us would sing. It was a friendly sociable atmosphere. People lived just close enough together and just far enough apart, and the neighborhood was agreeably cloaked in verdancy.

The Gift of Bell Place

On her 21st birthday, Clara Bell came into her fortune. The house and all of her assets transferred from her trust to her control. The same year, she married Julius Sylvester Walsh, Jr., son of one of St. Louis’ chief capitalists and railroad men. (Clara’s grandfather and father had established business ties in Missouri by 1860). The wedding took place at Bell Place.

Shortly after their wedding, Clara and Julius were among the first residents to move into the luxurious Plaza Hotel on Oct 1, 1907. There, they lived lavishly, dividing time between NYC, St. Louis and Europe. Trips to Lexington and Bell Place, which she gave to her mother for Christmas the year after she married, were also common.

Alas, despite her wealth and advantages in life, Clara’s marriage was not a happy one. In 1923, she shocked society by suing for divorce. Thereafter, she referred to her husband as deceased – she really wasn’t a woman to go in for subtlety!

After her divorce, she continued her busy social calendar, making The Plaza her main residence. And if anything, her lifestyle became even more lavish.

She was friends with the likes of Mae West, John Barrymore, Ethel Merman, Queen Mary, Gregory Peck, and Dwight Eisenhower – whom she entertained at The Plaza with small intimate gatherings of several hundred people.

The company she kept could sometimes be controversial, however. Ward Morehouse wrote that she was

“an early champion, in her own personal way, of human rights, inviting prominent blacks into her apartment at a time when they were barred even from entertaining downstairs. one of her best friends was Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, the black tap dancer who rocketed to international fame. Nevertheless, his renown didn’t shield him from the racial profiling of his day. A security guard spotted him coming off the elevator on Walsh’s floor one time and immediately asked the entertainer what he was doing there. Whereupon Bojangles literally danced his explanation that he was visiting his friend Mrs. Walsh. Which was all the dumbfounded guard needed to know.”

Her extravagance and eccentricity also often set the public’s tongue wagging. When she traveled to Europe in 1933, she reserved round trip fair for her automobile and chauffeur. This was during the Depression! And speaking of her car, she was also noted for special lights mounted on her limousine that allowed her to park almost anywhere in Manhattan!

Bell Place Re-Gifted

In 1940, Clara and her mother gave Bell Place and its surrounding 4.5 acres to the city of Lexington (retaining life estate) as a memorial to D.D. Bell. Her mother died later that year, but the property remained in the control of Clara who eventually rented it to the Cumberland Corporation.

The estate finally passed into the hands of the city in 1957 when Clara Bell Walsh died at The Plaza at the age of ” 70-odd (‘none of your business’),” to quote her obituary in TIME Magazine, exactly 50 years after she moved into the hotel.

(A curious side note: a court order was issued in 1969 authorizing MIT to make a chemical analysis of her remains). She is buried in Lexington Cemetery.

Clara Bell’s Legacy

The Bell Court neighborhood is a tight knit community. They have had an active neighborhood association since the 1960s.

Though the cocktail party may be Clara Bell’s most lasting legacy, Bell Place and Bell Court are a close second. Though meant to be a monument to her father, her fame far outreached his – so much so that the house is often referred to as the Clara Bell Walsh House. The neighborhood, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is almost entirely intact and continues to be a close-knit and active community. Currently, Bell Place houses the offices of the urban-county governments’ parks and recreation department. The ground floor is available to the general public for events, which means that brides are still saying “I do” there, just like Clara.

*Special thanks to Jim Birchfield for leading a very informative and entertaining walking tour of the Bell Court neighborhood, beginning at Bell Place. And for sharing his research on the family, house and neighborhood. Much of this post was culled from his efforts!*

The Blue Grass Trust’s deTours is a group of young professionals (and the young at heart). The program provides behind-the-scenes tours of historic buildings, places, and sites in central Kentucky. BGT deTours are free and open to the public. They occur on the first Wednesday of every month.

Link to U of L’s photo of the D.D. Bell House

February 22, 2013

This Week

A weekly round-up of my favorite preservation related stories from around the web and in the news. Click on the title of each story to jump through to the original article/blog post.

Elizabeth Ellsworth, Maven of Midcentury Modern – Preservation Nation

Image via Preservation Nation

“After retiring from a career as a marketing executive, Elizabeth Ellsworth began buying and restoring once-beautiful homes that had been tarnished by lack of maintenance or improper additions. In late 2012, she purchased the Island House. Built in 1954, it’s one of three residences designed by Bimel Kehm in New Canaan, Connecticut.”

Mary Todd Lincoln, Sally Field and a House – HerKentucky

“Earlier this week, Sarah wrote an essay here on HerKentucky about the moment when, while reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, she first saw Lincoln as an empathetic and very human man rather than as a historically exalted leader. As I read Sarah’s piece, I immediately thought of all the press surrounding Ms. Field’s visits to Lexington. I did a little research about the Mary Todd Lincoln House and realized that, perhaps, Ms. Field was onto something. Maybe the home where Mrs. Lincoln spent her teen years is a key to her character. ”

Cold War Bunkers – NPR

WBT radio’s bomb shelter in Charlotte, N.C., part of a government-funded emergency communications network, as it looked in 1963. Image NPR

“There’s an underground bunker at a radio station in Charlotte, N.C., where time has stopped. Built decades ago to provide safety and vital communications in the event of a nuclear attack, it’s now a perfectly preserved relic of Cold War fear that’s gained new relevance”

Interview Felecia A Bell: African Americans and the Capitol Building and the African American Museum in DC– The Square

Bell discusses her work as the director of education programs for the U. S. Capitol Historical Society, the African American History Museum, her research into the use of enslaved and free black craftsmen to construct the United States Capitol and her testimony (along with others) that resulted in a bill to name the Capitol Visitor Center’s great hall, “Emancipation Hall.”

How Historic Preservation Can Reverse Population Loss in “Shrinking Cities” – Preservation Resource Center

This gem popped up on Facebook from a number of different preservationists this week. “In her citiwire.net column from July 20, 2012, Roberta Brandes Gratz makes the case for the relevance of preservation to cities facing these all-too-common issues as she did in her comments at the Louisiana Landmarks Society Blight Forum last night. She cites Donovan Rypkema’s PlaceEconomics report, commissioned by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, that found ‘the least shrinkage occurs in places where preservation is made a priority over demolition.'”

I’m a Little Country Boy Eight Years Old – National Archives

FDR Ferguson, the original response, and his copy of the letter he wrote. Image via The National Archives

This is a wonderful example of the link between place and memory. Seventy-six years after FDR Ferguson wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt (then in his third term in office) a letter, he could remember little of its contents. His daughter, thinking she was on an impossible mission, contacted the Roosevelt archives and to her great surprise was able to obtain a copy of the letter her father wrote when he was just eight years old. (Hip hip hooray for archives and archivists!) Upon reading the letter he’d written so long ago, do you know what he remembered? He remembered his childhood home – writing on the the stone hearth. And when he saw the photograph of himself he’d included his missive to the president, he was most excited to see that the family’s cow barn was just barely visible in the background.

November 1, 2012

Dia de los muertos!

As many of you know, today is the Day of the Dead. It is a joyous holiday celebrated in Mexico and in other cultures of the world. Though its celebration differs from culture to culture and region to region, it is a time to remember family and friends who have passed.

Traditional dancers in front of the Kinkead House during the Living Arts and Science Center’s Day of the Dead Festival. Image via LASC

For the last six years, the Living Arts and Science Center has been promoting cultural understanding and awareness on the East End by hosting their annual Festival del Dia de los Muertos. The festival brings together people from all walks of life and backgrounds and it uses two of Lexington’s historic places, the Kinkead House and the Old Episcopal Burying Ground.

Alter at the OEBG 2011 during the Day of the Dead Festival

The Kinkead House is the site of most many of the LASC’s Day of the Dead festivities. It was built in 1847 for George B. Kinkead (Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s attorney) and his wife in the Greek Revival style. Sometime after 1853 Italianate elements were added following the style of the time.

The LASC has called the Kinkead House home since 1970. After 11 years of leasing the property, the Kinkead Family donated the house and 1.5 acres to the LASC to further their mission to “provide creative and unique opportunities for exploration and education in the arts and sciences.” The Kinkead House currently serves as offices, class room space, and gallery space where over 400 classes, workshops, and programs are made available to children and adults throughout the year. (Check out the Kaintuckeean’s post on the LASC’s exciting plans for the Kinkead House).

Paper crafts at the Kinkead House during the Day of the Dead Festival. Image via LASC

During the Festival del Dia de los Muertos, the gallery spaces are filled with Day of the Dead themed art from local artists and school children and the class rooms are used for crafting sugar skulls, papel picado (paper cutting), and tin ornaments. Outside, traditional Mexican musicians and dancers perform and local restaurants sell delicious traditional treats.

OEBG after the candlelight parade 2011

At dusk, a candlelit parade of festival-goers snakes its way down Campsie Place, a short street lined with Victorians, to the back entrance of the Old Episcopal Burying Ground. The OEBG is only open to the public one day a year – the Day of the Dead (though private viewings can be arranged – like this one for the BGT deTour Program). For the festival, the cemetery is transformed by local artists and community members who create traditional alters on the graves of Lexington’s former denizens. When the cemetery was established in 1849, I’m sure no one could have predicted the colorful and exuberant remembrances that would take place here 160 years later!

The OEBG Cottage during the Day of the Dead Festival 2011

The Living Arts and Science Center’s Day of the Dead celebration brings together Lexington’s history and the changing face of its community. Young or old, from one cultural background or another, the festival is fun, educational, tasty and brings everyone together. Using Lexington’s cultural resources for the celebration grounds the ever-evolving community firmly in its past. And by using these resources so effectively, the LASC maintains their relevance to the community, which in turn encourages their preservation for future generations to enjoy.

Happy Day of the Dead, ya’ll!