THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610010116
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 64 lines
Eating a picnic lunch in a cemetery may seem a tad ghoulish nowadays, but a hundred years ago, picnicking among the dead was a popular custom.
``Once a week, Victorian families would go the cemetery, clean around the gravestones and have a picnic,'' explained Barbara Buck, a docent at Norfolk's historic Hunter House. ``They'd spend all day there. It was an accepted custom.''
Life for cultural Victorian Norfolkians also included attending garden teas, band concerts, doll carriage parades, scavenger hunts and other bygone leisurely pastimes.
Twentieth-century residents who want to experience many of those customs firsthand - and learn more about the lifestyles at the turn of the century - will get their chance Oct. 11-13 during the Hunter House's Royal Victorian Weekend.
Band concerts, poetry readings, wedding preparations and cemetery tours are just a few of the samplings.
A 7 p.m. performance Friday by the Tidewater Brass Ensemble will start the weekend. The concert of patriotic band music by Sousa, Cohan and other Victorian composers will be held at Epworth United Methodist Church in downtown Norfolk.
Poetry lovers will find plenty to do throughout the weekend. Performances of ``Once Upon a Midnight Dreary,'' a ``spirited'' evening of Edgar Alan Poe readings and nighttime Hunter House guided tour will be held at 7 and 8 p.m. Saturday. More lighthearted poetry recitations can be heard at a 1 p.m. garden tea Friday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon, thoughts will turn to love at the Hunter House as a bride, her mother and groom prepare for a wedding. Engagement etiquette and marital advice offered from an 1890s Ladies Home Journal will be offered. Programs are at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Also Saturday, a guided walking tour of the Freemason historic district is planned for 11 a.m. The tour concludes with lunch at Freemason Abbey restaurant.
A program on Gilded Age servants, titled ``Up Before the Lark,'' will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Hunter House. Don't be surprised if a few ``servants'' of the historic home take a break from their work to chat with visitors.
Elmwood Cemetery will be the site of two weekend events. The Preservation Picnic, set for 11 a.m. Saturday, will include a guided tour exploring funerary art and the Victorian customs of death and dying. A picnic lunch is provided, with proceeds going to the historic cemetery's preservation.
Another guided tour of the historic cemetery, minus the picnic, will be held Sunday at 1 p.m.
A scavenger hunt and self-guided walk on the mysteries of the Freemason historic district are planned for Sunday, beginning at noon. Those who find the answers and report back to the museum win a prize.
Children's events also have been planned. A decorated doll carriage parade for children ages 4 to 8 is set at 10 a.m. Saturday in the garden of the historic house. At 11 a.m., older children older are invited to a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
The weekend will conclude with a garden tea and poetry recitation by the Royal Old Dominion Ladies Literary Society at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Most of the events have a fee. Admission price ranges from $3 to $10. Some fees include lunch. Advance reservations and ticket purchases are recommended since space is limited.
For more information about the weekend events, contact the Hunter House staff at 623-9814. The museum is at 240 W. Freemason St. by CNB