~ Catawba County Historical Association ~
The Festival of Roses
Harper House / Hickory History Center
~ Saturday, June 6, 2009 ~
The Catawba Historical Society is very active and has several wonderful sites of various eras open for history buffs and those looking for something new and interesting. Via a circuitous route, Golden Bobbins were invited to demonstrate lace on the porch of Harper House in Hickory for the June 6, 2009 Dedication Ceremony of the new Rose Garden. The event was presented by the Catawba County Historical Association, titled 'The Festival of Roses', and took place at the Harper House and Hickory History Center. Guided tours of the newly and extensively remodeled Harper House took place every hour on the hour for a $5.00 fee. (Free for CCHA members.)
Geographically, it was most convenient for those in the Golden Bobbins Northern Group to consider the invitation (limited to 3). Pat Blackwell, Sue Miller, and Marg Harbaugh attended.
Harper House - Hickory History Center:
310 N. Center Street, Hickory, NC 28601
828.324.7294
The pictures taken inside Harper House were graciously allowed our photographer by special permission of Heather Deckelnick, Site Manager, and taken during one of the guided tours. The Golden Bobbins appreciates Heather's hospitality and we hope that the pictures of some the textiles inside the house provide some context of the fine restoration work.
The brand new Rose Garden is off to a good start. The Catawba County Rose Society has graciously taken responsibility for the ongoing care of the roses, and the beautiful rose bouquets on display inside Harper House were provided by members of the society.
The Les Amis string quartet provided wonderful music adjacent to the Rose Garden and their music floated across the grounds.. As the temperature rose and street sounds interfered, they moved to a location on the front porch of Harper House - wonderfully convenient for the Golden Bobbins demonstrators. Having what amounted to a very skilled private string quartet providing superb music provided a thoroughly enjoyable ambience.
Described as having the "finest Queen Anne interior styling in the entire state", if a visitor arrived at the door in the original time period of this home (construction circa 1887) it might have been expected to leave a calling card on (presumably) a silver salver. If somewhat higher on the social scale, one might be admitted to the front parlor to wait. If a friend of the family or responding to an invitation, you would go through the entry foyer to the front parlor and immediately into the Grand Parlor. Only intimates of the family were likely to be admitted to the adjoining family parlor.
There are a number of interesting textiles and a surprising number of lace pieces. Some are vintage pieces while others are authentic replicas.
A lace bedspread is on one of the beds on the second floor. Interestingly, one of the beds had a full width bolster, and Heather said the beds were short, not because the people were shorter (the usual tour guide explanation), but because there would have been a number of bolsters and that people often slept in a sitting position, not the sprawled flat position to which most of us are accustomed.
A wedding dress is displayed in the attic. This is a very interesting lacy fabric but I am not certain of the period. The wooden mannequin is equally interesting and displays the dress well, especially since it is not floor length. The attic is accessed by a very narrow, old-fashioned staircase and probably originally housed two of the servants. Possibly two of the servants slept in one of the three second-floor bedrooms while the other servants (e.g., gardeners, coachman) either slept in the loft of the coach house behind the main house or may have been Hickory residents and lived at home.
During prohibition, the attic became the 'speakeasy'. The lovely attic windows no longer open but would have when the house was built. They would have provided ventilation in warm weather (if not comfort) for the servants but undoubtedly the attic would have been quite cold in the winter.
The house had only two fireplaces and the kitchen to keep it warm in winter. Having the kitchen inside the house would have been unusual for that time. The children's room on the second floor was added at a later time and the home was unusual in having 'indoor plumbing'.
The cliché applies - a fine time was had by all.
The restoration projects have been expensive; approximately $2 million for the two houses on the property, time-consuming, and requiring dedicated efforts from many people. The links below show only a small portion of the work and effort made to keep the house as historically accurate as possible.
Catawba County Historical Association
Although the link above shows a nice picture of the steps going up the middle to the front porch as one might expect, the existing door is actually a more recent addition and the original Victorian doorway is to the left. The authentic side entrance is used for the tours.
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If you are a wallpaper fan, Harper House is rife with amazing examples and I gained a new appreciation both of the work and a totally new perspective on the decorating techniques of this era. I am definitely a dedicated textile person, but the wallpaper treatments, especially those fantastic ceilings, were marvelous.
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Harper House during restoration.
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North Carolina History Project
A brief description of Harper House.
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