November 2010

Emily Dickinson's troubled life and influential work are chronicled at the Emily Dickinson Museum located in The Homestead, the house in which Dickinson spent both her childhood and the years leading up to her untimely death.

The Emily Dickinson Museum consists of two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts, closely associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson. The Evergreens, next door, was home to her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children. The Museum is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about Emily Dickinson’s life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance.
 

The original Boyd Tavern was constructed in 1790, consisting of a small one-story dwelling & tavern. Around 1816, the building was altered and expanded reflecting the nucleus of the present structure. By the 1820s, the building had evolved into a federal style. Following the Civil War, the owners sought to give the tavern a different appearance. These changes are attributed to Jacob Holt, an architect-builder working in southside Virginia in the 1870's. The early decades of the 20th century saw further exterior alterations. From the plain, country ordination of Alexander Boyd to a thriving hotel, to a boarding house which converted to apartments in 1922, the tavern's history has been one of constant change, expansion, & renovation. The tavern has been a prominent landmark for over 200 years. In 1976, The Boyd Tavern was placed on the Virginia landmark register & the national register of historic places.

“For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen,” so begins Poe’s famous short story “The Black Cat,” written while living in this house with his family. Writer, editor, popular poet and inventor of the detective story, Edgar Allan Poe still thrills readers today. Visitors to his home in Pennsylvania can understand why, with exhibits dedicated to his interesting life and influential work.

This museum tells the story of South Boston, Halifax County, and Southside Virginia through local history artifacts.

The museum's exhibits include Civil War Artifacts, Glassware, Hummels, Indian Artifacts, Military Uniforms, and Collections from Halifax County founding families. Exhibits are changed in the Main Gallery each month to reflect different aspects of the history and art of Southside Virginia.

The second Salt Lake City home of Brigham Young, the Beehive House is modeled to appear exactly as it would have during Young’s time inhabiting the mansion. Visitors will gain a perception of what day-to-day life was like for the leader of the burgeoning Mormon community nestled on the fringes of the 19th-century American frontier.

A two-family slave house still stands on the property east of South Boston, and the "peculiar institution" is effectively interpreted. The museum owns one of the largest collections of slave writings in the country, so information on plantation life from the slave perspective is evident. Prestwould was built in a post Revolutionary Georgian style and displays over five generations of decorative history.

The primary item on display is the house itself, the place in which Poe penned his collection "Tales from the Folio Club". In addition, a number of pieces related to Poe are exhibited, including glassware and china belonging to John Allan (Poe's foster father), a telescope reputedly used by Poe, Poe's sextant, a traveling desk (or lap desk) he presumably used at the University of Virginia and a full-sized color reproduction of the only known portrait of Poe's wife, Virginia, done at her death in 1847. A set of Gustave Dore's 1884 illustrations for Poe's "The Raven" are featured on the second floor.

The museum features Poe's life and career by documenting his accomplishments with pictures, relics, and verse, and focusing on his many years in Richmond. Richmond's Poe Museum boasts the world's finest collection of Edgar Allan Poe's manuscripts, letters, first editions, memorabilia and personal belongings. Opened in 1922, in The Old Stone House, the museum is only blocks away from Poe's first Richmond home and his first place of employment, the Southern Literary Messenger.

Visitors can experience 18th century life at Wilton, Richmond's own Georgian plantation manor house. Moved and restored by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Wilton now is home to a rich collection of 18th and early 19th century furnishings, portraits, silver, ceramics, and textiles. Famous visitors to the house included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

The museum complex also includes tours of the official residence of CSA President Jefferson Davis and his family, which give a fascinating glimpse into the social and political lives of the leaders of the Confederacy. The mansion contains over half the original furnishings. The museum also organizes and sponsors a variety of lectures and other special events and programs, inviting visitors to join us in our exploration of American society in the 1800s.

The Museum of the Confederacy’s mission is to serve as the preeminent world center for the display, study, interpretation, commemoration, and preservation of the history and artifacts of the Confederate States of America.