On May 6, 2016, the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex will open a new exhibit, Parlor to Parlor: Funeral Traditions of the Cape Fear, 1850 – 1950. “Much can be learned about a society by looking at its beliefs and practices associated with death,” says David Reid, museum administrator. “The exhibit will examine changing funerary practices in late-nineteenth/early twentieth century North Carolina,” says Reid.
A variety of artifacts, such as a Wake County undertaker’s body removal basket, 1900s mourning clothing, and a plaster death mask will illustrate the diverse and changing practices of this era. “I think people are especially fascinated with funeral customs of the past in part because the ways we commemorate the dead have changed significantly in the past 150 years and the traditions of yesterday often seem strange and macabre to our current sensibilities. At the same time, it’s a theme we can all identify with as death is something we all experience” says exhibit curator Diana Bell-Kite.
Also, the 1897 Poe House will be dressed in mourning from May 6 through June 12 and again from October 4 through November 13. Dixie Poe Sutton, one of the Poe’s six daughters, died after giving birth in 1913. It is likely the family held her wake in the house. Eventually care of the dead began moving from the home parlor to the funeral parlor during the early twentieth century. Visitors on regularly scheduled tours of the Poe House will see a wake scene in the parlor, crepe-covered mirrors, floral offerings, and other mourning traditions typical of an upper-middle class home during the 1910s.
Parlor to Parlor is a joint production between the Museum of the Cape Fear and the North Carolina Museum of History, and will be on display through December 31, 2016.
Parlor to Parlor is funded by a grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County and the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex Foundation, Inc. The project is supported by the Arts Council in part by contributions from businesses and individuals, and through grants from the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. The Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum, located at 325 Franklin Street, will also open an exhibit on May 6 titled Death and Remembrance in Fayetteville: A Historical Perspective. The two museums have worked together, offering views on this topic from Fayetteville to southeastern North Carolina.
For more information about the Museum of the Cape Fear please visit: www.museumofthecapefear.ncdcr.gov. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.