Favorite Historic Site?

[Darrin Dickey]

What is your favorite US historic site?

[Christy Toth-Smith]

My great new ‘find’ is the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, Kentucky. Sadly, over the years I have continually lowered my expectations of a small house museum, and now I will settle for a guide who does not tell too many 'Moonlight and Magnolias' stories. The Mary Todd house was refreshing because their guides were so knowledgeable, and the home was restored with a very believable appearance, not over the top, like you so commonly see. In addition, there are several great sites in and around the Lexington area, so it made for a great weekend of history….

[Darrin Dickey]

Nice photo. I've heard very good things about the Mary Todd Lincoln house. (I know I've had it listed on Pastigo for some time.)

Can you define "Moonlight and Magnolias" stories?

What would you say make visiting a historic home the most enjoyable? What spoils it for you?

[Christy Toth-Smith]

I’m sorry. I should have explained that better….. :-)

I assume the term ‘Moonlight and Magnolias’ was taken from that line in ‘Gone With the Wind’ when Rhett tells Scarlett to stop pretending how well things are going at Tara. Where I first heard it applied to tourism, I can’t remember. As Interpreters, we would use the term to describe the guest who did not necessarily care to learn anything from their site visit, but rather to hear (or loudly tell the whole tour group) romantic stories that were usually not true. Now I admit, I loved those stories too when I first heard them. I still remember hearing them on the very first Antebellum home tour I ever took, back when I was thirteen years old.

Probably the most common that I heard as a guide was the ‘petticoat checker’ table. That’s the story about the small tables or stands that are made to stand against the wall, and have a mirror on the bottom. There is no way you can stand in front of that and see the hem of your dress (and I tried – at one site I worked we were in costume daily).

Another one is the ‘closet tax’ story. Have you ever had a guide tell you that there are no closets in a room because people were taxed by the amount of windows and doors they had? Great story, but where is the documentation?

The ‘third floor ballroom’ is one we got asked a lot. At two of the sites I worked at, we had first hand reference to the third floor in some family letters. Both of them used the third floor for storage.

What about the ‘whistling walk’, where the servants had to whistle when they brought the food in from the kitchen, that way the family would know they were not eating it? Maybe the story of women who had ribs removed for a smaller waist? Everyone was shorter then? Every woman had a 21 inch waist then?

It’s as true when it applies to the past as to the present: sweeping generalizations just don’t work. Challenge your guide (just don’t embarrass them in front of the group). Ask for documentation or what first hand account they took their story from. It is so easy as a guide to repeat the romantic entertaining stories, because that’s what you think people want to hear, but what about people like us? Because of my positive experience at the Mary Todd Lincoln House, I have already recommended the site to friends and family, I am planning a return visit, and I am considering membership, just to help with their restoration. Chances are good that I will visit again and again. Chances are good that the occasional tourist looking for some entertainment will not. Maybe if we were more vocal in encouraging our historic sites to do their research, they would realize that education sells, rather than pure entertainment. Plus, if done right, even telling the truth can be entertaining. I’ve heard that it’s stranger than fiction! :-)

[Darrin Dickey]

Gotcha. The genealogical equivalent is "My grandmother was a Cherokee princess." Uh, no. That's some good info in your post. I look forward to "challenging" my tour guides in the future.

[Darrin Dickey]

Funny, I ran across this blog post today that fits in a little with this conversation. Toward the end, she says: "At still other places, I think visitors greatly appreciate the chance to find the similarities and differences between the people of the house and their own lives--and care considerably less, I think, than many museum professionals, about the differences between types of furnishings."

I do think the people who work in museums and historic homes frequently forget that they're not talking to other museum professionals. These are everyday people and you often only have a moment to garner their attention and thrill them about a site. Talk about furniture differences and, mentally, they're gone.

I recently took a guided tour of Carnton in Franklin and they guy who led the tour was knowledgeable and nice, but I (who LOVE history) was bored out of my skull! Carnton is beautiful and I enjoyed the house, but most of what the fellow talked about didn't engage my intellect or curiosity. It didn't fuel my imagination for what it was like in this house during the war or during the Battle of Franklin. And he did spend quite a bit of time talking about the furniture. :-)