Victorian Hair Wreath circa 1870 On Loan From TearDropMemories.com
Victorian Mourning Artifacts
Victorian Lady's Great Uncle's Victorian Funeral Card Provenence 1890
Victorian Lady Lisa Wearing Mourning Veil
Mourning Memories
Victorian Casket Cradle Head Rest On Loan From TearDropMemories.com
Victorian Lady Lisa Lewis In Mourning Re-enactment
Mourning By Piano Forte Swetland Home, Dress circa 1900
Victorian Autopsy Tools
Victorian Bleeder Cup Caused Many Premature Deaths
Widows Weeds Mourning Display 1860
Victorian Mourning Dress circa 1880
Friday The 13th Funeral Re-enactment
County Historical Society celebrates Friday the 13th with authentic Victorian parlor funeral this weekend
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS, STAFF WRITER Citizen's Voice
WYOMING — There’s nothing like celebrating Friday the 13th with a good old-fashioned funeral.
And the Luzerne County Historical Society does mean old-fashioned. For the unlucky weekend, the Society is presenting a Victorian parlor funeral complete with candlelight, hair chains, yards of black crepe, and tales of bloodletting and strange burials, at the Swetland Homestead. It was the inspiration of Clara Hudson, administrator of the historic home.
The star was Lisa Lewis of West Pittston, who, elegantly decked in authentic Victorian mourning attire from her veiled hat to high-heeled boots, sat with decorous melancholy beside the coffin in the parlor. The coffin was draped with an authentic shawl called a pall and topped with a sheaf of wheat, which Lewis said represents eternal life.
We thought, since we have the house and it’s already set up in a Victorian manner, why not do something? said Historical Society Executive Director Jesse Teitelbaum.
During the years of Queen Victoria’s reign, 1837 to 1901 — and particularly after the death of Prince Albert in 1861 — burying the dead became an elaborate ritual. Funerals were held at home, and there were strict codes of dress and conduct for the mourners.
Hudson spent weeks researching for the exhibit. Wyoming Valley West students could help set up and participate to fulfill part of their History Day requirements, said Michele Burns, 15. She was one of the guides stationed in each room — she was in the dining room, telling tales of horrifying burials.
Next door were glass cases filled with artifacts of death and mourning including a watch chain made of human hair, a surgical kit from the American Revolution, and a black-draped daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln.
Outside the parlor, Allison Alexander and A.J. Klopotski, both 15, played Overture to the Messiah by Georg Friedrich Handel mournfully on their cellos.
Who is the coffin’s occupant?
I was very specific about not designating that, because it gave me a strange feeling, Hudson said.
In the two years she has worked at the homestead, Hudson has become very close to the Swetland family. It didn’t seem right to her to pretend one of them was in the coffin.
However, it was possible they were in attendance.
Hudson said visitors and staff have told her they feel a presence in the house. Jen Manganello, 13, the guide for the Victorian sickroom, heard that and nodded vigorously.
People often ask me, is the house haunted? I don’t know. But there is a definite feel of the family, Hudson said.
NEED A PUBLIC SPEAKER? Call Now For Available Dates & Programs
Contact Lisa Lewis at (570) 655-8392 P. O. Box 3278 West Pittston PA 18643 E-mail: Lisa @victorianalady.com
Victoriana Lady has been honored to receive donations from individuals who would like their loved ones antique garments preserved and their history shared. Any item, in any condition before 1930 will be cherished and given due acknowledgement in my traveling museum programs.
Please contact me if you are interested in being a part of history
Sincere thanks, Victoriana Lady Lisa E-mail: Lisa@Victorianalady.com
