Paint

Some years ago, when restoration first began on Riddick's Folly, paint scrapings were taken for analysis in the house's front parlor. The tests indicated that the oldest of the numerous layers of paint was "Prussian Blue," sometimes called "Berlin Blue." If you're wondering, it looks closest to this color. While the restoration of the parlor utilized a different color scheme, it did reveal a lot about interior decorating of the early 19th century.

One of the more intriguing things we see is that little to no attention was paid to coordinating the various colors in a room, no less from one room to another. The Prussian Blue found in the door molding was probably different from the paint, which would have been different from the furniture upholstery, different from any rugs, and so on. It seems that our careful coordination of pleasing color combinations may have been a bit hasty.

Though the expense will prohibit us from correcting this any time soon, we do have another trick we can play. A fairly common practice of the time period was to paint not just the walls and molding, but also the ceiling. Specifically, the crown molding would often be a shade half as light as the walls, and the ceiling would then be half as light as that. With the prominent white plaster medallion in the front parlor, adding this touch of color would make it rather impressive.

Taking inspiration from the capital improvements underway at Riddick's Folly, we would like to incorporate the new paint scheme as soon as possible. If it sounds expensive, it can be. If you'd like to contribute (hint, hint) toward the painting, please contact the museum office. That would help a lot.

Otherwise, stay tuned for updates on this, as well as our other continuing restoration work.

Taking Stock in the Law Office

Riddick's Folly recently received a gift of stock in memory of George Taylor Everett. This gift, of more than $25,000, was to remember Mr. Everett's interest in what is now the Nathaniel Riddick Law Office (the small, white building in the photo).

This building, however, was not always here. Neither did it belong to Nathaniel Riddick. The office formerly belonged to Dr. Robert Copeland Everett, an ancestor of Mr. George Everett.

Dr. Everett used this building as an office for his medical practice located several miles from Riddick's Folly. He likely used it around the time that Nathaniel Riddick used his own law office of similar size and detail.

When Nathaniel Riddick passed away in 1882, the law office served no purpose and it was torn down soon thereafter. More than a century would pass before another building would occupy that space.

In 2004, Dr. Everett's office was recovered and relocated to Riddick's Folly. Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of research and work transformed the doctor's office into a law office. Today this building serves as a host facility for lecturers, workshops, and meetings.

This gift of stock came to Riddick's Folly in memory of a man whose interest in the building helped to keep it and preserve it. As such, a portion of the gift will be set aside for its on-going maintenance and improvement.

Riddick's Folly is in the midst of a capital improvement project, consisting of five repair and restoration tasks being performed by the Phoenix Corporation of Newport News. This project carries a price tag of $135,000, footed entirely by the tax-payers of the City of Suffolk. That we are grateful for this should go without saying, but we'll say it anyway. We're grateful.

It gets me thinking about the two-way responsibility of a museum to its community, and vice-versa. We hold objects, documents, funds, and even the building itself in the public trust. These items may legally belong to us, but morally and practically, they belong to our community. Riddick's Folly is not just a well-decorated club house for the staff and volunteers; it's a functional place where people can come to learn about their history and their community's history.

In exchange, the people should take ownership in Riddick's Folly. This is their history, and they each have a hand in maintaining it, interpreting it, and preserving it for others. Some are more active than others, of course. Some become members of the museum; others volunteer their time; still others serve on the museum's Board of Directors. And for those who don't do any of those things, they still have a role in supporting the museum and in shaping its purpose.

Their local tax dollars help to fund our operations, and from time to time, they fund the necessary improvements to the building that keep it safe and sound. Their visits to the museum with friends or family help to spread the word about what we do. Conversely, if they don't visit, it tells us that what we're doing is either not appealing, or not publicized enough. And so we adapt.

Our improvement project will hang new shutters around the building, shore up the masonry, install new gutters (long overdue!), apply new paint to the peeling and cracking exterior, provide new storm windows, and help to repair and maintain our air handling systems. $135,000 goes quickly!

Free Money!

Ok, so you're thinking to yourself, "I'd really like to make a contribution to Riddick's Folly, but I'm strapped for cash." We understand, and we've got a solution for you.

Go to GoodSearch.com and search the internet as you normally would. If you select Riddick's Folly as your charity, GoodSearch.com will donate about $0.01 to us every time you search for anything. You can add it to your web browser, make it your home page, anything you like. It costs us nothing, it costs you nothing, but we make money and you find what you were looking for -- everybody wins!

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "How does a penny help Riddick's Folly? Can't you just find that under a couch cushion?"

Well, for starters, our couch cushions date to the 1840s, so if we found a penny, it would probably need to be on display as an exhibit (also, due to inflation, that penny would be worth roughly $0.25, beyond its collector's value). Besides, pennies add up. If we get just 100 people searching just twice a day, we could make more than $700 a year, and it's free.

File this under Better Late Than Never, but if you do your shopping through GoodSearch.com's sister site, GoodShop.com, we'll also receive a portion of that.

See? You can make that contribution after all.

Educating All The Way

"Christmas at Riddick's Folly" was our event. On Friday, December 5th, more than 150 visitors waited outside in the cold, some for more than an hour and a half, to witness our new program. Live holiday music from the Brass Choir of Old Dominion University entertained them, but the real treat waited within.

Each tour saw vignettes of the Riddicks, their friends, their slaves, and their house from 1860 through 1865. The talk of impending war, the optimistic belief that the war would last only a few months, the realization that war had changed everything, and the recognition of a new kind of freedom... these were the topics that filled the halls and walls of Riddick's Folly.

What struck us, as we read through our evaluation forms, is that no one was prepared for this kind of experience. Many said they expected a house tour, and a few were even disappointed that this wasn't just a house tour. But the real encouragement came when we began looking at the responses, and fully 100% found the event to be "very educational" or "somewhat educational." That's a home run in anyone's book.

It's easy to get wrapped up in details. Are these ornaments period appropriate? Would candles or oil lamps have been used here? What kinds of desserts would have been on this table? And though we tried to get as many details right as possible, we know we missed some. We know we cut some corners here and there to let our core issues shine through. Judging by the responses we got, I think we made the right decisions.

As easy as it is to get absorbed in minutia, it's also easy to forget that our primary function is education. There are 22 public schools in the City of Suffolk. There are private schools and home schooled groups as well, not to mention community colleges and vocational schools. Local churches, the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society, the Suffolk Art League, and the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts also host educational programs of various stripes. All of these organizations and institutions are educating, and that's just in Suffolk.

All that education, but only 16% of 8th graders nationwide ranked "proficient" or above in U.S. History*. Clearly we still have work to do, but programs like this one mean we're heading in the right direction. Look for more to come.



*Data from the National Center for Education Statistics

A Big Tree

It was the Germans that came up with the idea of bringing a tree into the home at Christmas time, but its exact origins are unclear. Decorated trees could be found in cathedrals as far back as the 16th century, but in the United States, its emergence as a holiday standard did not come until the 19th century.

At first, table-top trees were in vogue. These could be just a few feet tall, but brilliantly decorated with fruits and berries, flowers, and candles. By the time of the Civil War, the Christmas tree was in the midst of an evolution into its current form -- the full tree standing in a room.

In the front parlor of Riddick's Folly, you will find such a tree now. A 12-foot monster, one of downtown Suffolk's largest indoor trees. True to the period, it has been decorated with ribbons, candles, and origami -- a new fashion from the Far East. What's off is the timing.

Ordinarily, trees were not brought into the house until Christmas Eve, December 24th. They would stay until Twelfth Night, the last night of Advent. We're a bit early in order to have the tree on display during our upcoming holiday program.

Here are some photos of our new tree.

A Proclamation of Thanksgiving

For most of us, the term "First Thanksgiving" evokes images of Pilgrims and Native Americans and turkeys. While the details of that meal may not be quite right, the sentiment is great. But the official day of Thanksgiving was not declared until 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War. Before an election year.

With no further pretext, enjoy his original proclamation below.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward*,
Secretary of State

*Secretary of State William Seward is believed to have slept in Riddick's Folly earlier in 1863 following the "Siege of Suffolk."