From home life in the 1700s to sports competition in the 1990s, the roles and accomplishments of women are evident all year at the Museum of the Albemarle. In the story of the region's history, weddings, local sports hero and even a figure captured in Tiffany glass, the many ways women influence and inspire in our culture are displayed.
The hall-and-parlor style house in the "Our Story" exhibit features women from different eras, including Polly Jackson Scott. Erected by her grandfather, Daniel Jackson Jr., around 1755, Scott lived in the house and managed the farm with five of her eight children. She oversaw the production of flax and cotton to generate income for her family.
Some of the fondest dreams of many of the region's women are captured in the "I Do!" Weddings of the Albemarle, 1831-2015" exhibition. The pussywillow satin dress and trousseau of Chowan County resident Lillian St. Clair Perry are exhibited. She married Lloyd Turnage June 22, 1921, and carried with her a silk seven piece trousseau set on her honeymoon. It features hand painted flowers and vines crafted by tailors trained in the French hand-sewing method
Not to be missed is the dressing table set Pasquotank County resident Dora Barrett used preparing for her June 22, 1952, wedding to William H. White. The couple for many years lived in Elizabeth City and Chapel Hill. Also see the 1945 wedding photograph of Marie Bennett and James Allen Diggins captured in a studio in Norfolk. After the wedding they resided in Creswell, where Bennett's grandfather had been enslaved on Somerset Plantation.
A former Northampton County schoolteacher is honored in the "North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame" exhibit. Maxine Allen was inducted into the hall for bowling in 1999. She won the National Duckpin Bowling Congress All Events Championship, Dixie Classic and United States Classic Championship.
The "Louis C. Tiffany: Art and Innovation" exhibit features the "Young Lady in Magnolia Tree" stained glass window, believed to be Louis Tiffany's sister. Intricate working of copper foil around the drapery glass of magnolia leaves captures beauty and nature. The colors of the dichromatic glass change as light is reflected on and off it.
The Museum of the Albemarle is the northeast regional history museum of the Division of State History Museums in the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sundays, Mondays and state holidays. Visit online at www.museumofthealbemarle.com and find us on Facebook!