My Day at Polk House
Yesterday (Sunday, October 12, 2014), the conference I am attending ended shortly before noon. I jumped in my rental car and set the GPS for 301 West 7th Street in Columbia, Tennessee, 46.1 miles south of here, the home of the James K. Polk Ancestral Home, a Polkaholic's Graceland. I had been here in 2007, but like Disneyland, one visit is never enough for Polk fans' happiest place on earth.
This is the home where Polk lived with his parents Samuel and Jane Polk. The home that he and his wife Sarah lived in in Nashville was willed to the state of Tennessee, but the state lost a legal battle with greedy relatives, who ended up selling that prime downtown real estate to developers. (That home has since been demolished and is now the site of a hotel). The home in Columbia has also been gutted since the Polk family lived in it, but it was repurchased, restored and furnished with many of the Polks' original portraits and furnishings.
The Polk site is composed of three main buildings: the "Sisters House" where the museum is located, the Polk Ancestral Home, where tours are given, and the Presidents Hall, an adjacent building where exhibits are staged. (There are also an outbuilding on the grounds containing the kitchen.) The Presidents Hall is currently home to a fascinating exhibit called "The Face of a President." As the exhibit explains, until the middle part of the 19th century, most Americans had never seen pictures of their national leaders. The advent of lithography and photography “gave a face” to the President and other elected officials, and transformed politicians into celebrities. James K. Polk experienced all manner of visual reproduction from this era, from sketches and painted portraits to lithographs and finally daguerreotypes and photography.
The Polk site allows photography of their museum and exhibits (as long as the flash is off), so prepare for a lot of pictures that I took, which are behind the cut below.
1-2. The signage greeting visitors to the Polk Home.
3-4. This is the Polk Ancestral Home. The Sisters House is on the same street (to the right in the picture) and the Presidents Hall is around the corner (to the left in the picture).
5-8. Here are some of the exhibits from the museum inside the Sisters House. There is also a short video to watch about the life of James K.Polk.
9. This is the election poster from the 1844 election for Democratic candidate James K. Polk and his running mate George Mifflin Dallas of Pennsylvania.
10. This is the fan (with pictures of some of the previous presidents on it) that Sarah Polk carried as she attended the Inauguration Balls.
11. After his death, James K. Polk was the honored subject of this postage stamp.
12-14. This is some of the furnishings from the parlor of the Polk home. The famous portrait of Polk done by the artist James Healey in 1845 hangs there. Unfortunately, the lighting and lack of a flash did not allow for a good photo of it.
15. The stern looking woman in this photo is Jane Polk, mother of James K. Polk.
16. This is Polk's writing desk and reading chair. The cabinet contains many of his law books.
17. This is an example of "shade art" from the period. This is not the original, it is a replica of a painted shade sent to Polk by a soldier who was stationed in Oregon. The soldier wanted Polk to know what his newly acquired territory looked like.
18. This is a portrait of Sarah Polk, aged 45, after she left the White House. Like her husband, it appears that the job of first lady had aged her.
19. This is a suit that belonged to James K. Polk from which we know his size. He was 5'7" tall and had a very slight build. Sarah Polk was 5'2" and also very small physically. She had a very narrow waist and feet the size of a child's.
20. This portrait of Sarah Polk was painted when she was in her mid 70s. She died about a week before her 88th birthday.
21. What caught my attention in this photo was the "chamber pot" at the foot of the bed. Thank God today for indoor plumbing.
22. This is the fountain behind the house, next to a beautiful garden.
23. This display explains the "Face of a President" exhibit.
24-25. This amused me. It is a sketch of lawyer James K. Polk done by a bored court clerk in the back of some sort of a court record book.
26-27. This is a Polk portrait painted by artist Charles Berger in about 1844, the year Polk ran for President.
28. As this display indicates, Polk hated posing for portraits. It required several hours of his time, something that the workaholic President viewed as a waste.
29-. These are three photos of groups that included President Polk. The top two are of Polk and his cabinet and the bottom one is of a social group that included former first lady Dolley Madison. The one of the top left especially interested me because I had not seen it before. It includes Polk's Secretary of State (and future President) James Buchanan, who was not present when the photo on the top right was taken.
seaivy once asked me the names of the people in the photo in the bottom center, and the displays below indicate the names of the persons in the photos.
33. As the display description indicates, this is a photo that Sarah Polk had copied for her to send to people who wrote to her requesting her husband's photo.
34. Photography in the 1840s required people to sit still for several minutes. The aid the photograph's subject, a device was used to keep the person's head in one place while the photo was being taken.
35-36. I had never seen this portrait before. It was done in 1846, in the middle of Polk's term by the artist Thomas Sully.
37.seaivy I thought you would be amused by the fact that the local rental car company gave me a nice Cadillac, with license plates from your home state! I have been living the life of a Maryland tourist this weekend.
If you every find yourself in the Nashville area, may I recommend that you drive the 46 miles to Columbia for this very inviting and welcoming Presidential museum. The staff are very accommodating and kind, and unlike Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, you are allowed to preserve all of your memories in photo form!
This is the home where Polk lived with his parents Samuel and Jane Polk. The home that he and his wife Sarah lived in in Nashville was willed to the state of Tennessee, but the state lost a legal battle with greedy relatives, who ended up selling that prime downtown real estate to developers. (That home has since been demolished and is now the site of a hotel). The home in Columbia has also been gutted since the Polk family lived in it, but it was repurchased, restored and furnished with many of the Polks' original portraits and furnishings.
The Polk site is composed of three main buildings: the "Sisters House" where the museum is located, the Polk Ancestral Home, where tours are given, and the Presidents Hall, an adjacent building where exhibits are staged. (There are also an outbuilding on the grounds containing the kitchen.) The Presidents Hall is currently home to a fascinating exhibit called "The Face of a President." As the exhibit explains, until the middle part of the 19th century, most Americans had never seen pictures of their national leaders. The advent of lithography and photography “gave a face” to the President and other elected officials, and transformed politicians into celebrities. James K. Polk experienced all manner of visual reproduction from this era, from sketches and painted portraits to lithographs and finally daguerreotypes and photography.
The Polk site allows photography of their museum and exhibits (as long as the flash is off), so prepare for a lot of pictures that I took, which are behind the cut below.
1-2. The signage greeting visitors to the Polk Home.
3-4. This is the Polk Ancestral Home. The Sisters House is on the same street (to the right in the picture) and the Presidents Hall is around the corner (to the left in the picture).
5-8. Here are some of the exhibits from the museum inside the Sisters House. There is also a short video to watch about the life of James K.Polk.
9. This is the election poster from the 1844 election for Democratic candidate James K. Polk and his running mate George Mifflin Dallas of Pennsylvania.
10. This is the fan (with pictures of some of the previous presidents on it) that Sarah Polk carried as she attended the Inauguration Balls.
11. After his death, James K. Polk was the honored subject of this postage stamp.
12-14. This is some of the furnishings from the parlor of the Polk home. The famous portrait of Polk done by the artist James Healey in 1845 hangs there. Unfortunately, the lighting and lack of a flash did not allow for a good photo of it.
15. The stern looking woman in this photo is Jane Polk, mother of James K. Polk.
16. This is Polk's writing desk and reading chair. The cabinet contains many of his law books.
17. This is an example of "shade art" from the period. This is not the original, it is a replica of a painted shade sent to Polk by a soldier who was stationed in Oregon. The soldier wanted Polk to know what his newly acquired territory looked like.
18. This is a portrait of Sarah Polk, aged 45, after she left the White House. Like her husband, it appears that the job of first lady had aged her.
19. This is a suit that belonged to James K. Polk from which we know his size. He was 5'7" tall and had a very slight build. Sarah Polk was 5'2" and also very small physically. She had a very narrow waist and feet the size of a child's.
20. This portrait of Sarah Polk was painted when she was in her mid 70s. She died about a week before her 88th birthday.
21. What caught my attention in this photo was the "chamber pot" at the foot of the bed. Thank God today for indoor plumbing.
22. This is the fountain behind the house, next to a beautiful garden.
23. This display explains the "Face of a President" exhibit.
24-25. This amused me. It is a sketch of lawyer James K. Polk done by a bored court clerk in the back of some sort of a court record book.
26-27. This is a Polk portrait painted by artist Charles Berger in about 1844, the year Polk ran for President.
28. As this display indicates, Polk hated posing for portraits. It required several hours of his time, something that the workaholic President viewed as a waste.
29-. These are three photos of groups that included President Polk. The top two are of Polk and his cabinet and the bottom one is of a social group that included former first lady Dolley Madison. The one of the top left especially interested me because I had not seen it before. It includes Polk's Secretary of State (and future President) James Buchanan, who was not present when the photo on the top right was taken.
seaivy once asked me the names of the people in the photo in the bottom center, and the displays below indicate the names of the persons in the photos.33. As the display description indicates, this is a photo that Sarah Polk had copied for her to send to people who wrote to her requesting her husband's photo.
34. Photography in the 1840s required people to sit still for several minutes. The aid the photograph's subject, a device was used to keep the person's head in one place while the photo was being taken.
35-36. I had never seen this portrait before. It was done in 1846, in the middle of Polk's term by the artist Thomas Sully.
37.
seaivy I thought you would be amused by the fact that the local rental car company gave me a nice Cadillac, with license plates from your home state! I have been living the life of a Maryland tourist this weekend. If you every find yourself in the Nashville area, may I recommend that you drive the 46 miles to Columbia for this very inviting and welcoming Presidential museum. The staff are very accommodating and kind, and unlike Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, you are allowed to preserve all of your memories in photo form!