• 931-359-3863

25March

When: Saturday, March 25, 2017
What Time: 10 AM - 4 PM
Where: 3238 Blackburn Hollow Road, Cornersville, TN 37019
Fee/Admission: $15
Event Posted: 7 years ago
Event Views: 159

Event to Explore 19th Century Mourning Customs
A House in Mourning at
Historic Lairdland Farm House
March 25, 2017

For several years Lairdland Farm House has hosted its presentation of A House in Mourning. The antebellum home is prepared for mourning it would have been in June of 1847 when the families associated with this tranquil farm were visited by death not once but twice.

On June 2, 1847, Robert Gordon, the father of Lairdland’s first owner, Nancy Jane Gordon Lane, died at age 85. A Revolutionary soldier and early settler to the community, Robert Gordon had numerous children and grandchildren living nearby. On the day following his death, his 22-year-old granddaughter, Nancy Gordon Laird, the niece of Lairdland’s owner, gave birth to her second daughter. Twelve days later the baby died.

Robert Gordon and his great granddaughter were laid to rest in the cemetery at the Presbyterian Church just North of Lairdland. In time, many other members of the family would join them there.

IMG_7511-001By 1857, Lairdland’s original owners, Mrs. Lane, her husband, Thomas J. Lane, and children had moved to Texas, and her niece, Mrs. Laird, and her husband, Robert H. Laird, purchased Lairdland. The Lairds greatly expanded the farm and home, living there until their own deaths some half a century later.

Though the home was never to see again the degree of grief experienced there in June 1847, visitors to A House in Mourning this March will understand the extent of the family’s mourning over their losses when they explore 19th century death, mourning and burial practices. Visitors will see authentic accouterments and artifacts, such as mourning jewelry and hair wreathes. Hostesses attired in period appropriate mourning clothing will conduct a guided tour of magnificent Lairdland Farm House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and included on the Tennessee Civil War Trail.

In addition to the home and museum, also open will be the Traveler’s Cottage, which houses period tools and implements similar to those used to build Lairdland more than 185 years ago.

The event takes place between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on March 25, 2017. No reservations are required.

Call 931-363-2205 or e-mail Info@lairdlandfarmhouse.com to arrange for a group. Children are welcome and will be admitted for $5 as this is an educational event.

Adults are $15. Ample free parking is provided. Lairdland Farm House is located at 3238 Blackburn Hollow Road, Cornersville, Tenn. Take Exit 22 traveling SW on Hwy. 31A off Interstate 65. Take a left onto Blackburn Hollow Road (2 miles), Lairdland Farm House is on the left (1 mile).


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