The Belmont Mansion in Nashville, Tennessee, the setting for A Lasting Impression and A Beauty So Rare, is a special place to me. Not only because of its significance in Southern history, but because of the love and care the Belmont Mansion staff and curators continue to give the Italianate summer villa that Joseph and Adelicia Acklen constructed in 1853.

Belmont Mansion, Nashville, TN

 

One of the projects they’re currently working on is the columns on the second floor landing where the family bedrooms are located. In Adelicia’s day, the capitals of the columns were tipped in a mixture containing real gold. So Belmont Mansion is restoring them to their original luster and beauty using a similar process. And a very expensive paint!

Click for more views inside the Belmont Mansion

Love the details that the gold brings out.

 

Here you can see the pictures (some of them enlarged to show the detail) that Jerry Trescott (historical architect at Belmont Mansion) is using to get the details exactly right. Also notice the black and white checkered floor in the picture. That’s also Jerry’s artistry and devotion at work. This is how the wooden floors looked in Adelicia’s day. She had them painted to resemble marble. Lovely!

Jerry (Trescott) and I snapped a quick picture in the foyer of the Belmont Mansion that day. He was working on painting the capitals, and I was delivering “Thank you Krispy Kreme doughnuts” and signing all of my books in stock in the Belmont Mansion gift shop.

More period beds the Belmont Mansion recently acquired. The blue settee in the foreground is an original piece that Adelicia owned.

A half tester bed newly acquired and displayed in the children’s nursery at Belmont Mansion.

History fascinates me. Does it you? Do you have a particular home or setting from history that you enjoy visiting? Have you been to the Belmont Mansion yet? If not, I’d love to show it to you!

Tammy

Click to pic to learn more