Tuesday, September 26, 2017

That time of year again

First off I want to apologize for being MIA. There was a lot going on, not an excuse but rather an explanation.
Our closing date this year is Sunday October the 8th. I did manage to try to look up the precedent of a paper dress in the Gilded Age. I have not come up with any other instance of such then nor of this being the fashion. One would say quite the opposite is the case. I would like to bring to my readers the extravagant ball thrown by the Bradley-Martins at the Waldorf Hotel in NYC in 1897. The cost of said ball came in just under $10 million. The dresses, and jewels that accompanied them, were of the finest and richest variety. The Bayles masquerade, in 1876, was quite the opposite. But then that may have been the point. Mrs. Bayles also adds clippings from Harper's Weekly making it a very unique, interesting and political dress. A must see before we shutter our doors for the winter months - granted we open them again for the auction and Dickens Festival which I shall be covering!
There are just so many wonderful things to take in. We also have a nice display showing the Wilson sail loft. Wilson was the brilliant sail maker who made the sails for the famous boat the America. This was an uber-yacht designed to take-down the British competition. It was said after, and when the race became named the America's Cup, that a British nobleman bankrupted himself trying to build a yacht to be able to beat the America.
So there we have it the paper dress, a premier sail maker and so much more. Things that are so uniquely Port Jefferson. Not ones run of the mill town. Every tour someone tells me how surprised they are about all that went on in Port Jeff. Cars and horses, on and on. Not a sleepy Long Island town but a vibrant and rich community made up of passionate people that make our fair town the wonderful that we have today. I shall need to get some pictures taken and come back where I left off last year: The library. Until then I hope to see you soon at the museum! Don't forget this the last week!

No comments:

Post a Comment