Wedding Dress of the Century

(The 19th century that is.)

This is Tanya.

She is a care giver to artifacts.

She works way, way down in the basement

 of the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3.

Right now she is putting together an exhibit about

wedding dresses!!!

When I saw her with this dress I begged to be allowed to blog about it

- just to get everybody in the right mood for the

Windsor Nuptials

on Friday.

I mean

truthfully,

who cares about Prince William,

the Queen,

the guys with the big furry hats

 or the wedding ceremony itself?

We're all going to get up at 3 a.m. to see

THE DRESS

.

Well,

THE DRESS

won't be any lovlier than



this amazing creation.

It was worn by a bride in St. Catharines, Ontario

 in

1870.

Could Kate Middleton's dress possibly be this beautiful?

The back of

the dress

includes a bustle and this beautiful train.

I picture a big hat with lots of feathers and things on her head,

 

but truthfully,

 I don't know

and I haven't seen Tanya unpack a hat box yet.

 

Maybe she wore a veil,

or she was bare headed

or the hat was lost ...

If you look closely you can see the hand stitching, particularly around the yoke.

The neckline is low, but there is an extremely modest insert

that buttons right up to the top.

I wonder if

The Dress

Royal 

will be half as demure.

The Royal wedding is on Friday,

The Museum Wedding Dress Exhibit will be in June

and you won't have to get up at 3 am to see it!

 

St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3

1932 Welland Canals Pkwy

St. Catharines, Ont.

905-984-8880

3 Geneva Street, the Lights Are On

You know that tingling feeling kids get when they are in bed on Christmas Eve and hear the bells on Santa's reindeer?

The fearsome knowledge that a secret world exits somewhere close by?

Scary and exciting at the same time?

That's the feeling I had when I first saw this miniature house.


That feeling of being seven again and in the presence of magic didn't last long enough I'm sad to say ...

but my astonishment is still with me.



This amazing little house has been taken out of storage and is on temporary display for at the Museum at Lock 3 in St. Catharines, Ontario.

This is the upstairs bedroom. 

Each piece has been hand crafted. Even the little drawers open.

I reallllllly want to know if there is anything in those drawers, old maps to pirate treasure, (miniature pirates of course), a wee pair of wire rim spectacles, maybe even a tiny diary full of secrets.


Evidently the builder had to make the proper miniature tools before he was able to construct the objects that appear in the house.

I find it hard to imagine that he went to all that trouble and then didn't pull things in the drawers. 

If I find out I'll let you know!

The downstairs parlor is my favourite room.  You have to see it to believe how tiny and exquisite  everything is.

Notice the open door on the hutch on the left.  Each tiny little plate, candlestick and vase has been placed just so. 

When I saw it in the basement of the museum after it first came out of storage, a number of the items had been knocked over.  Someone must have very gently used tweezers to put everything back in place. 

The identity of the children in the daguerreotype is unknown at this time. 

Perhaps the builder and his sister?

This is the masculine sitting room opposite the salon. 

Notice the clock and the tiny little pictures on the desk.


You can practically smell the cigar smoke still lingering in this room.

Another sitting room upstairs. 

This one seems more feminine. 

Could this one have been for the lady of the house?

No tobacco smells here.

 Just a hint of lavender.

Servants quarters under the truncated turret at the upper left of the house. 

Such a lovely painting on the wall.

It must have been a lucky girl who landed a job with this family.

This is a photograph of the house that still stands at 3 Geneva Street in St. Catharines.  For those of you familiar with St. Catharines it is south of St. Paul Street close to the 406. 

The Museum is closed between Christmas and New Years but the week after is a perfect time to take the whole family. 

Trust me, it's worth it.

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