2022-07-17 TRR Rally Wrap & Fulton Mansion

I didn't plan on a Hitchup Breakfast because I thought only one person was actually leaving first thing in the morning. Instead six of us decided to go to JJ's for breakfast. We figured we would beat the church crowd by going before 9 AM but many of the them must have breakfast out before church as we had to wait a bit. We ended up at two adjoining tables which was okay. The choices and food were great.

Elaine and I decided to visit the Fulton Mansion for a tour. It was her first time and I haven't been for a few years. This mansion was very far ahead of its time in terms of conveniences of the time. They had flush toilets and running water for sinks and tubs upstairs. The last hurricane did some damage but you would never know it now. First we visited the little museum store and got our passes.

They have period clothes that you could try on. Elaine gave this outfit a try. We both decided that we would have found some way to go without all the corsets and many layers of clothes that ladies in the 1800's and early 1900's had to wear. Several women who were already there when we arrived spent a lot of time, dressing a dummy in all the period clothes available. it was a challenge to figure out the order some of the pieces had to be put on in order to work.

The dining room and a little nook at the back of the house had replicas of period food set up as well as the furniture. Not all the furniture belonged to the house owners but it is all from the right period.

Running water was unusual for the house time period. Check out the Onion Skin toilet paper.

This tub with running water was absolutely huge and very deep.

Beds were ornate but only double bed size even in the master bedroom. 

The house was called Oakhurst and it was purchased in 1976 for $150,000. It required quite a bit of restoration and didn't open as a museum until 1983.

The house was owned by the Davidson's, the Herring's, and the May's after the Fulton Family.

Therre is one room in the house that was left unfinished with the walls and part of the floor left open so you can see the construction. I've always thought it was very interesting that each time the property sold, less land was included and, at one time, there was actually an RV park in the front yard. You can see it in this post card picture.

The real "work" areas of the house were located in the basement and there is a description of each of the rooms and their purpose.

There were also drying racks and ironing setups in this room.

The cistern rooms stored water that was pumped to the top of the house. This is how they had running water and flush toilets.

The pantry is definitely a big part of the house. A relative with a store delivered food on a regular basis.

This would explain the food in cans versus home canned.

They had "central" heat in the house which was maintained in the basement and rose through the chimney to come out of the fireplaces upstairs. The fireplaces were not actually used as regular fireplaces.

So what is the difference between a pantry and a larder. Well, a larder is actually a cold room like a giant early refridgerator.

The area under the countertop was filled with ice to keep the food cold.

Food was cooked in the basement and brought upstairs on a dumbwaiter. The staff ate in the kitchen.

 It's a very interesting tour if you are ever in the Rockport/Fulton area. There are docents in the house that tell you about the rooms and the family.

Dinner was definitely leftovers on Sunday night. We had lots of pizza and numerous other things. More time was spent in the pool.