(12-03-2015 07:10 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 09:41 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  

(11-29-2015 04:50 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(11-29-2015 04:11 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Would love to go there someday- having never been. I assume there are many relics there? Really the while whole is probably a relic!

Yes - you sure won't regret it. The original couch where Booth sat to get his leg dressed, and a lot of others (the rest being contemporarly furnished). Authentic, very atmospherical. Breathing views from the window of the room where Booth and Harold slept. And due to it being such a secluded, idyllic place you can feel the original time and can imagine the happenings. The idyllic atmosphere has something threatening to it (like in "High Noon") and you almost expect desperados to appear on horseback.

Eva:
I love how you paint the feel of being there with a High Noon quality. Being a big fan ofvthat movie I instantly get it!

I love the movie, too - IMO the modern ones despite all the technical tricks don't come up to the charming atmosphere of the old ones (same in music).

And IMO there are no actresses anymore with the aura of a Grace Kelly, MM, or Claudia Cardinale. (Did you know she is Tunisian btw?). The same goes for actors.

Bill, I posted one relict - a dresser made by Spangler (as I was told, or Mudd according to Laurie - and she has the greater knowledge) on the trivia thread here:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussionSymposium/thread-2060-post-54106.html#pid54106
...and the sofa where Booth sat here:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussionSymposium/thread-65-post-47237.html#pid47237
This is if I remember not the original bed where JWB and Herold slept at the Mudds', but similar and in the same place:

...And this is what they could see from the bedroom window:

(and imagine it was deadly quiet outside).

---

Forgot: The Mudds' bedroom, and the clothes were allegedly original theirs.

(12-03-2015 08:22 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Perhaps they had a live-in nanny? But where was the nanny's room? Did she get rousted out of the front bedroom (which is normally the master bedroom) when Booth and Herold arrived? Did she share the children's bedroom with them? The only other room upstairs was supposedly Dr. Mudd's medical office. Was there a connecting door through the children's room to a room that was over today's gift shop?

(12-03-2015 08:22 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Perhaps they had a live-in nanny? But where was the nanny's room? Did she get rousted out of the front bedroom (which is normally the master bedroom) when Booth and Herold arrived? Did she share the children's bedroom with them? The only other room upstairs was supposedly Dr. Mudd's medical office. Was there a connecting door through the children's room to a room that was over today's gift shop?

So many bodies and so few bedrooms! What on earth did they do after the war when Dr. and Mrs. Mudd produced five more children?

(12-04-2015 10:18 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Eva - It has been over five years since I have been in the Mudd House (even longer on the second floor since going upstairs hurts like crazy). Was/is the children's bedroom still at the rear of the house, close to the stairs and Dr. Mudd's office? Seeing a sewing machine in that room seems somewhat out of place - I had a childhood friend who did sew her fingers together by playing with one when she was only about five.

(12-04-2015 11:51 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(12-04-2015 10:18 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Eva - It has been over five years since I have been in the Mudd House (even longer on the second floor since going upstairs hurts like crazy). Was/is the children's bedroom still at the rear of the house, close to the stairs and Dr. Mudd's office? Seeing a sewing machine in that room seems somewhat out of place - I had a childhood friend who did sew her fingers together by playing with one when she was only about five.

Yes, that is where the room was, and here is the sewing machine:

Almost identical to my grandmother's sewing machine from the 1890s. We kept that one in use through the 1990s. Three of my four period outfits for use here at Surratt House were done by my mother on that old machine. Surratt House has an old Singer with the last patent date of 1852.

God bless Elias Howe, whom is credited (I believe) with producing the first sewing machine in the U.S. -- but not applying fast enough for a patent. He saved housewives numerous hours of hand labor, even though the first machines only sewed straight seams. Do you have any idea the length of a straight seam in an 1863 dress designed to be worn over a hoop?

...and Dr. Mudd's adjoining office:

I didn't find the sewing machine out of place because I thought the nurse was probably also responsible for sewing the clothes, so she could watch the kids and sew.
My grandma had the same type of sewing machine (for sewing, not for decoration).

(12-05-2015 08:25 AM)Gene C Wrote:  It seems to me....it would depend on the size of the hoop. Don't some of those "hoop" out more than others.

(12-05-2015 08:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Would Charley Bauer know?