CLASSICAL VOICES

Catskill, NY – On Sunday, April 19, at 2 p.m., singers from the Graduate Vocal Arts Program of the Bard Conservatory of Music will highlight the second 2009 “Bard at Beattie-Powers” concert. The event is free and open to the public. The highly popular recital series is now in its third year.

Featured artists, accompanied by a pianist, will include Mary Bonhag, Ariadne Greif and Celine Mogielnicki, sopranos. In duo or solo performances, the artists will offer selections by Edvard Grieg, Mozart, Benjamin Britten, Alban Berg, Charles Ives, Puccini, Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc.

Joan Tower, one of America’s preeminent composers and Bard College’s Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts, says .. “The students have learned to love this music with commitment and passion.” The “Bard at Beattie-Powers” concerts are highly popular and guests are encouraged to arrive early. Ample parking is available.

Beattie-Powers Place, a historic home overlooking the Hudson River, is owned by the Village of Catskill, and maintained by the Friends of Beattie-Powers, a non-profit volunteer organization whose goal is to preserve this exceptional community resource for the benefit of all citizens of Catskill and Greene County.

Beattie-Powers Place is the continuation of Bridge Street. From exit #21 of the New York State Thruway, turn left onto Route 23B, Main Street, to Bridge Street in Catskill, turn left onto Bridge Street, continue to Prospect Avenue; or from the east, cross the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, Route 23, to the first traffic light, turn left onto Spring Street, Route 385, to Bridge Street, turn left again to Prospect Avenue.For information, call (518) 943-4764, or visit online – http://webmail.mhcable.com/redir.php?http://webmail.mhcable.com/redir.php?http://www.friendsofbeattiepowers.org/

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS!

MID-HUDSON NEWS16 March 2009

Tourism is up in the Hudson Valley

GOSHEN -- The economy is driving more and more people to the the Hudson Valley as a tourist destination. Tourism is up statewide and the Hudson Valley is no exception.Orange County Tourism Director Susan Cayea said people who live within three to five hours of the region are driving in to see the sights."People are downsizing their travel budgets this year," she said. "You can get to the Hudson Valley and home again on a tank of gas, but there's so much to do and see that people will choose the Hudson Valley over farther away destinations just because it's going to be more cost effective and it's still going to satisfy that urge to get away and see something different."While the base of the region's tourists usually come from the New York metropolitan area, Cayea said more and more are traveling from the Washington and Boston corridors.

My two cents! - Actually this has been a trend over the past three/four years. My own personal observation .. I have visitors to my shop in Catskill from as far afield as Australia, California, Colorado, Manitoba, British Columbia .. not to mention Toronto, Detroit, and from the 'Longhorn' state. I am always surprised. HMH

Paper View - Thomas Cole, Sanford Gifford, and Frederic Church

Catskill, NY - On Sunday, March 15, Cedar Grove Historic Site will host a "Sunday Salon" at Noon. Cedar Grove was the home of noted Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole.

During the 19th century, Thomas Cole, Sanford Gifford, and Frederic Church spent much of their lives here in the Catskill region of the Hudson River Valley.

Join independent scholar Dr. Gerald L. Carr, head of the Frederic Edwin Church Catalogue Raisonné Project - and himself a former Hudson Valley resident- as he shares new findings from his recent research on these three artists. Emphasizing Church, he will highlight three newly discovered period writings, one per artist, with personal details that bring these men back to life.

A wonderful opportunity to learn something new about Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School of art, Sunday Salons are informal discussions followed by a wine reception which take place once per month at Cedar Grove.

Tickets are $9, or $6 for members. Admission is first-come-first-served. Each Salon begins at 2 pm.

Just before the Sunday Salon, join us for an information open house for all those interested in volunteering during the 2009 season. We are looking for people who love learning and who are interested in helping us accommodate the growing number of visitors to the historic site.

Want more information? Come to this event and enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour as well as free admission to the Salon that begins at 2pm. Orientation for new volunteers will begin on April 4th, so now is the perfect time to come and see what it is all about.

For more volunteer information call Gregory, 518-943-7465 ext.2.

Cedar Grove, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, is located at 218 Spring Street in Catskill,
near the intersection of Spring Street (Route 382) and Route 23, near the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

MUSIC FOR A NEW SEASON

Catskill, NY – The 2009 season of “Bard at Beattie-Powers” begins on Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m., with a performance by wind ensemble artists from the Bard School of Music, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The event is free and open to the public. The highly popular recital series is now in its third year.

The afternoon recital will feature the artistry of Eleni Tsachtani, flute; Rachel Steinhorn, oboe; Sarah Wegener, clarinet; Luke Henry, bassoon, and Szilard Molnar, French horn. The repertoire to be performed includes music by Georges Auric entitled “Decide, Romance, Final”; “La Danse de la Chevre” by Arthur Honegger; performed by soloist Eleni Tsachtani; “Four Improvisations for Solo Horn” by Vitaly Buyanovsky, performed by Szilard Molnar, to be followed by a brief intermission.

The Bard recital then concludes with clarinetist Sarah Wegener performing an excerpt from “Quatour pour la fin du temps” by Olivier Messiaen, and a “Quintet for Flue, Oboe, Clarinet” by Claude-Paul Taffanel, from 1908, and featuring the ensemble of musicians. Refreshments will be available.

Beattie-Powers Place, a historic home overlooking the Hudson River, is owned by the Village of Catskill, and maintained by the Friends of Beattie-Powers, a non-profit volunteer organization whose goal is to preserve this exceptional community resource for the benefit of all citizens of Catskill and Greene County.

Beattie-Powers Place is the continuation of Bridge Street. From exit #21 of the New York State Thruway, turn left onto Route 23B, Main Street, to Bridge Street in Catskill, turn left onto Bridge Street, continue to Prospect Avenue; or from the east, cross the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, Route 23, to the first traffic light, turn left onto Spring Street, Route 385, to Bridge Street, turn left again to Prospect Avenue.

For information, call (518) 943-4764, or visit online – http://webmail.mhcable.com/redir.php?http://webmail.mhcable.com/redir.php?http://www.friendsofbeattiepowers.org/

'FINDINGS' OF DINA BURSZTYN

Woodstock, NY - The Woodstock Artist Association & Museum will present its first solo show of 2009 with "Findings from the ArTchaeological Museum" - 25 mixed media “artifacts’ by Dina Bursztyn - on March 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. The interdisciplinary exhibition will continue through March 29.

Dina Bursztyn who lives in Catskill, NY and New York City is a highly regarded sculptor. In this new, provocative demonstration of her talents, she has created art that playfully mimics the appearance and language of old anthroplogical objects usually on view in museums.
Among them is a necklace lost by Neptune after leaving a party, (he was in drag); Pandora's lock; a Hemingway Tangle from Cuba, and a scissor "who cut the world free".

Included in the series is a group of artifacts that refer particularly to the history of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, such as a fork once owned by Thomas Cole, and the remains of a straw hat that Frederic Church wore in Mexico.

The artifacts to be seen intersect facts with fiction, the sacred with the mundane, data with folklore, humor with old myths. They make references to mythology, ethnology, geology, theology, art and literary history among other disciplines. Like much of Bursztyn's work, the intent is to write in between the lines, to challenge established cultural perceptions and notions that people take for granted.

Her prior achievements include creating "Gargoyles to Scare Developers" on commission for buildings in New York City; commissions by the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Arts for Transit Program, New York City’s Percent for Arts Program, and the Public Art Fund among others.

A native of Argentina, Dina Bursztyn has shown her work nationally and internationally, including Maxell Fine Arts, Neuberger Art Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Dia Art Foundation, Art in General, ArtistSpace, Oaxaca Instituto de Artes Graficas, and Canada National Library, Ottawa.

Since 2004 she has co-owned with partner Julie Chase , “Open Studio”, an art gallery at 402 Main Street, Catskill, in the heart of the community’s arts district.
The Woodstock Artists Association & Museum is located at 28 Tinker Street, Route 212. Regular association hours are from Noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, from Noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more exhibit information, call (845) 679-2940. Web: www.woodstockart.org For information about “Open Studio”, call (518) 943-0180. Web: www.potatospirit.com

HOW TO ADAPT - 'GLOBAL WARMING'

From an article in the New York Times .. " ... But he argued that people who do nothing in the face of risk are the ones who are being irrational: If even a fraction of the consequences of global climate change that scientists are forecasting come true, disasters such as Hurricane Katrina might become the norm, not the exception. In a world afflicted by overpopulation and environmental degradation, he asked, is the irrational person the one who acts or the one who says the future will look after itself?

'CROSSING PATHS' - A DIALOG

On a recent Sunday, while staffing Verso Fine Art's gallery in Hudson, I had a visit from Scott and Lynne of Doylestown, PA. An engaging couple visiting the upper Hudson Valley for the first time, we had a wide-ranging conversation about our current economic situation, life on Wall Street in the late 1960's and early '70s, and much more. Scott sent me an e-mail a day later. I hope you will find this dialog of some interest. HMH

My Reply

Thank you for your very thoughtful message, Scott. My best to you and Lynne, and I did enjoy talking with you. I didn’t want to be somber or downbeat, I just felt a sensitivity in the remarks you and your wife shared with me.

Interestingly, I forgot to share another anecdote with you. Last summer, a younger couple (late ‘30s) arfrived at my shop in Catskill (across the Hudson River). We began to talk. They were from Australia, and they had just returned to Montreal (150 miles north of Catskill) after having visited Cuba.

The purpose of their visit was for the wife to retrace her ancestral roots in a small hamlet called Kiskatom at the base of Hunter Mountain (northern Catskills) .. really nothing more than a collection of rural houses .. and she had found their burial site from almost 200 years ago. While she had grown up in Australia, she had known that her forebears were from Greene County, NY. (Her husband was of English extraction.)

They were nice people .. we talked more (and they invited me to visit them in Australia). To my complete amazement, when I asked where they lived, they told me that they had a 20,000 acre homestead in southern Australia, midway between Sydney and Melbourne, where they raised cattle and sheep.

The terrible fires that have been sweeping this area (in the news) caused me to think of them in recent days.

Our lives (you, Lynne, me .. and everyone else) are full of these unforeseen encounters.

Think about visiting again one day soon .. I promise to be a little more ‘upbeat’. Harold


Crossing Paths

Hi Harold,

My wife, Lynne and I visited with you in your store yesterday. You kindly gave us some directions, an endorsement of the Mexican restaurant across the street, and shared some background from your interesting life.

I too make a living in the financial industry – but not on Wall Street. I am a financial planner and run my practice out of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. My wife has been a kindergarten teacher these past 17 years and tells me that she has the most important job in the world…I believe her!

As we parted yesterday, your last story was a fascinating one about a family friend that came over to your house to say good-bye and then died the next day. As we all know life is very short, and it’s important to get out what you want to say to people before it’s too late. You also said that life is a mystery and we clearly are not totally in control. I believe God designed things that way so that we would learn to be obedient and dependent on him.

Here is what I wanted to be sure to say to you. We will pray for your continued health and for meaning in the balance of your life. Undoubtedly, you have pondered life after your stay on this earth, and I hope you have discovered as I have, that a trust and belief in God and his son, Jesus, can lead not only to abundant life, but life everlasting. All of our souls will experience an eternal life – the choice we make is whether that eternity will be in the presence of God or absent from him.

God bless you, Harold. I hope we get to cross paths again.

FOUR CENTURIES OF LIFE ON THE HUDSON RIVER

Albany, NY - Though its waters flow nearly a mile from the Albany Institute of History & Art, the majestic power and rich history of the Hudson River will flow through America's earliest art museum in February, 2009.

Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art, and Culture is an unprecedented year-long exhibition commemorating Henry Hudson’s 1609 exploration of the river that bears his name, and the remarkable narrative of the people, events, and ideas that have shaped this region.Featured will be hundreds of artworks, artifacts, interactive displays, and rare archival documents from the Albany Institute’s renowned collections.

Complementing the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial—an international celebration stretching from New York City to Quebec —Hudson River Panorama will explore and narrate the influential force that the Hudson has had on our region, including settlement, agricultural cultivation, industrial growth, tourism, and the cultural prominence of the region's talented and creative artists, writers, architects, and landscape gardeners.

For more than three years, the Albany Institute has been researching topics related to the Hudson River in preparation for the exhibition. The process has been a journey of exploration and discovery, unearthing accounts of the people and events that have shaped the history of the Hudson Valley. With a topic as vast and wide-ranging as the Hudson River, selecting key events, people, innovations, and ideas to relate broader narratives of the river has been both crucial and challenging.Visitors will rediscover the flora and fauna of the Hudson River Valley and compare historic and contemporary images that reveal how the human presence has shaped and changed the appearance of the river over the last 200 years.

The Albany Institute is located at 125 Washington Avenue, in downtown Albany, one block west of the New York State Capitol, a short walking distance from Empire State Plaza, and I-787. Parking is available at Empire State Plaza, short-term parking at the Albany Institute, and on neighboring streets.

For hours or other information, call (518) 463-4478. Website: www.albanyinstitute.org

'THE 2008 REAL ESTATE REPORT'

A commentary by Roderic H. Blackburn on the state of real estate, always interesting. HMH

Since all markets have been in turmoil these last months I
have emphasized real estate trends more than usual. This
Report is a year-end summary for 2008 with comparisons
to prior years.

As I have always cautioned, what you read or hear in the
media about real estate sales and prices can be misleading
because national, state and regional performance figures
often differ widely, partly from issues having to do with
reporting (see attached Report on statistics) and partly because
of real differences from place to place.

The following figures are for sales numbers and median
sale prices of existing single-family houses. It does not
reflect the trends in new home sales, commercial, multifamily
or other classes of real estate. The data is publicly
available online from the National Association of Realtors
(NAR) at http://www.realtor.org and from the New York
State Association of Realtors at http://www.nysar.com.

National

The number of sales of single family existing homes during
the last year was off nationally –3.5% while median
prices were down 15.3%. Despite the torrent of bad housing
news, national sales were off only 3.5%. How can that
be? The answer is in the averaging: the western region’s
sales numbers were up 31.6% while prices were off
31.5%, read this as distress selling - a lot of it.

The Northeast

Northeast sale numbers were off -14.3% in the last 12
months, but median prices were off only -7.8%. Relative
to other parts of the country our region has had the slowest
sales but prices have held up quite well.

New York State trends

One year through December 2008 New York State sales
were off 16.2%, prices down 8.5%. That is pretty close to
what the Northeast as a whole did.

Hudson Valley trends

For the same year Columbia County sale numbers were
down –22.9% (down –25.7% over two years). On the
other hand the median price was off only –3.2% (off just
only –1% over two years).

In Dutchess County the number of sales was down –
8.1% in the last 12 months, and down –25.3% over two
years. Median prices were down -7.6% in the last 12
months, and off –11.6% over two years. Dutchess
County’s median price is now $309,450; Columbia
County’s is now $230,000.

Compare the above trends with median price changes
over the last year in other Hudson Valley counties: Westchester
(-5.1%), Putnam County (-6.8%)

Summary

In our region we have experienced at least three real
estate market cycles of about ten years each in which
prices have advanced (usually doubling) for about five
years and then stayed the same or decreased a little in the
next five years, this cycle then repeating itself. Early in
the present real estate cycle, median prices doubled (2000-
2005) - as they had in the prior two cycles - while in the
latter half of this cycle prices have stayed quite steady.
As prices advanced in each cycle, so did the number of
sales; when prices subsequently stayed level for five
years, the number of sales dropped about 30%.

If the pattern of the present cycle continues to follow that of the
prior two cycles (it has so far), 2009 should be the end of
the present cycle before a new cycle of increasing prices
and sales begins. That, of course, presupposes an average
recession which is not what we have. So when will the
real estate market turn around? Obviously we don’t know.
Ironically, that level of uncertainty allows for a more orderly
balance of sales and purchases. No one is yelling
fire!, crowds are not running for the exist.
What to do?

The lesson for sellers? Fewer buyers and longer periods
of time to get a sale, although if you are patient, you will
likely get near the same price as a year ago. Even in these
difficult financial times there are quite a number of buyers,
if not as many as before.

For buyers? If you have been anticipating that the market
would go down, or at least down further, and you
could get a real bargain, such a bargain is not likely. Indeed,
in some counties you may pay more than a year ago.
Also, if you have been thinking there is no mortgage
money available, you are wrong again. For qualified buyers
there is funding available at historically low rates.

A monthly column on the real estate market and related issues in the upper Hudson River Valley by Roderic H. Blackburn, principal of R. H. Blackburn & Associates, Inc.

FINDING THE VALUE IN 'VINTAGE'

On a recent National Public Radio broadcast, they had an interesting feature about the enduring value of objects from our past .- an interview with Chris Jussel of Antiques RoadShow. I found it of considerable interest! HMH


Eve paid $500 for this mid-century modern couch -- a steal according to Chris Jussel.

COMMENTATOR Tess Vigeland: In a down economy, classic tends to make a comeback -- sleek Eames chairs, Jackie-O style suits. The right antique or vintage buys can actually beat inflation. That selling point appeals to Marketplace's Eve Troeh.

VINTAGE BUYER Eve Troeh: It's name is EKTORP. It's big. It's orange. It's a couch that costs $500 at IKEA.

Vigeland - To you, it's something to sit on. To antique dealer Chris Jussell, it's...

APPRAISER Chris Jussell - "Something that depreciates almost 100% immediately.
He says new furniture is a like a new car: drive it off the lot, the value tanks. He says antiques are more like stocks: get in when the market's down -- like it is now -- and you could see a payoff in the future."

Jussell's seen more young couples venturing into his auction house, Samuel Freeman, in Philadelphia. Their eyes go wide.

Jussell - "Oh golly, I can buy something that's actually old and might eventually be worth something eventually for the same or less expensive then they're going to find at places like Ikea and Crate and Barrell."

He says classic items that have maintained their price for years are going at auction for 50 percent less than they were six months ago. You think retail is priced to move? Try families who need to unload heirlooms fast.

Jussell - "What you see are the three d's: death, divorce, distress."

PARTICIPANT Jason Arnold - "I like it."

PARTICIPANT Naj Maloully - "Go to the other side... "

At an estate sale in Los Angeles, Naj Maloully and Jason Arnold move a table for a better view.Maloully

"We're looking at this teak table."

Arnold - "1960s modernist table. It's beautiful, it's curvaceous. This type of table sells online for more than $400."

Maloully - "I don't want to pay more than $100 for it."

Maloully got her price. The seller's house is in foreclosure.

"I recently entered the fold of antique bargain hunters. When I moved to a new apartment, I went to Craigslist for furniture. Under "vintage" I saw a lot of junk, then a great mid-century modern couch. Same price as EKTORP -- $500. It's low-slung, bright blue with one long, padded cushion for the seat and another long cushion across the back. The dark wood frame holds this cool built-in table -- black glass."

I asked antique expert Chris Jussell if I made a good buy.Jussell:

"Actually, your voice went up when you talked about it with a lot of passion. You know what it's worth, because you know what you paid for it, don't you?"

That made me feel good, but here's something else about Jussell: he was the first host of the TV hit Antiques Roadshow. He knows value, and - later - I couldn't resist. I emailed a photo of the couch and asked what it might be worth in dollars. The upper end of his estimate was twice what I paid. Yes! That created a monster. I wanted a price on all kinds of stuff. My kitchen table, my bedside lamp, my old Girl Scout uniform, badges and all. Apparently that's a common urge right now.

Elizabeth Mason - "People are now looking at 'What do I have of value?'"

Elizabeth Mason runs the Paper Bag Princess. It's a designer vintage store in Beverly Hills. She says even if they have no intent to sell, people want to know if, in a pinch, they could liquidate their closet to pay the bills. She's getting more calls to appraise client's wardrobes.

Mason - "People are looking at their clothes as a way to make money."

On my visit, I just happened to wear something of my grandmother's: a necklace, silver with blue stones. Mason took a closer look.

Mason - "I'd put it somewhere in the 40s and this looks like it's lapis, but most importantly, it looks great on. What price would I put on that? Probably $600 or $700."
.
Really? Hands off my necklace, lady!

Knowing the market value changes the way I see things. I smile a little more when I fasten my grandma's choker or settle into my couch.

Since I actually use them, they're not really investments, but they could be later on down the line. As dealer Chris Jussell says about the appeal of the Antiques Roadshow, it's all about potential.

Jussell - "The possibility of going into your attic and winning the lottery.
And you may just decide to sit on or wear that lottery ticket instead of cashing in."

In Los Angeles, I'm Eve Troeh for Marketplace Money.

VICTORIAN-ERA HARDWARE

Restoring a Victorian Home is all about the details. One of the things that sets a Victorian era home apart from the typical house is the detailing in its hardware, Doorknobs, latches and hinges. In the Victorian era these typically mundane items were just as beautiful as wallpaper, mantles or lighting.


Case in point. We were "lucky" enough to have one remaining Period Lockset on the 3 exterior doors of our home. The others were long gone and had been replaced with modern lock sets and deadbolts, this is typical in most old houses. We do consider our self fortunate to have the original doors.

Restoring hardware varies depending on how many times it has been painted and what kind of paint or varnish ( sometimes when the door was varnished or shellacked back plates were covered) a lock set has. Its also important to know if you have solid or plated hardware. Plated hardware is thinner and more easily damaged by caustic chemicals used to strip paint. If you are using stripper I caution to ALWAYS test and inconspicuous are, such as the back or a lock set use in a closet for example before you just dunk them in stripper.



The best way, although it is time consuming is to carefully "pick" the paint off the lockset. Usually you can take an exacto knife and get it under the paint and lift sections of paint off. Getting into all the incised carving takes time and patience but the result is well worth it.

If you are going to be doing several of these I highly recommend going to your local office supply store and but a magnifier with light surround. Used by jewelers and artist they are perfect for seeing intricate details without straining your eyes.

Restoring period hardware is a labor of love that only an "insane old house person" would do but the beauty of the result speaks for itself. Period Victorian Hardware is a true work of art!

By Paul Wilham to Victorian Antiquities and Design, Cincinnati, OH, with permission

'STAYING WARM' IN AN OLD HOUSE!

Let me introduce you to Paul Wilham of Cincinnati, Ohio .. a regular blogger I admire for knowledgable commentaries on a range of topics .. good reading!


If you are waking up to one of the coldest mornings in the last several years. Here at our house in Indy it is -12 with a -24-26 wind chill you probably did the usual, went downstairs , checked your thermostat to see how well your furnace kept up and of course turned on your water and hoped it came out. If you survived intact, you realized your furnace never stopped running last night and in the back of your mind you have that nagging thought of just how bad that winter heating bill will be.

So how did those Victorian keep warm? Well we all have the romantic view of Victorian life, opulent rooms with servants bringing by an extra blanket as the fire roared in a grand fireplace as you sipped your hot tea. Well that wasn't the 'real world' of most people in the Victorian era. Opulent Velvet Drapes were the province of only the very wealthy and could cost hundreds of dollars. Most Victorian had to 'get by' by sewing their own drapes. Middle and upper class homes did however have what we called summer drapes and winter drapes. One of the 'chores' of spring cleaning was the removal of heavy drapes and replacing them with a light lace curtains. Most 'less than affluent' Victorians pretty much do what most of us modern day Old house people do. They nailed or tacked blankets or fabric over the windows in really cold periods. They also closed off rooms that were not used either by closing pocket doors and or the use of Portiere which has a drape that closed off a doorway. While many Victorian homes in cities might have gas which powered those lovely cast iron fireplaces you saw in every room of a Victorian townhouse.

Many houses would have had wood burning stoves. Usually in the Parlor or living room and off course the wood stove in the kitchen. In cold weather it was critical to keep these stoked and while the husband went off to work every day it was the "lady" of the house who usually hauled wood in and threw it in the stoves. Children were a blessing because that chore would then fall to the children.

Victorian knew how to "layer' clothes. What we may now view as the 'stuffy' garb of the Victorian era actually had a practical side in winter....it kept you warm! Men wore 'long johns' under their cloths and women had layers of petticoats.

Staying warm at night was the biggest problem. Even in many middle class homes the only source of heat was on the first floor. Assuming you got the downstairs hot enough the rising heat might make the night 'passable". You often found a cast iron grate between floors to allow heat to rise into the upstairs bedrooms. Of course we all think of the grand Victorian bed possibly a 4 poster covered with elegant linens.

A more apt description might be like this:

The best mattresses were filled with horsehair, next step down was cow’s hair, then wool. A straw mattress was often put down under a hair one to protect it from the iron bedstead. Chain-spring mattresses were available in the second half of the century, but they were expensive, and they still needed a hair mattress over them. A square of sheeting was often tied over the springs to prevent them from chewing up the mattress, which was then covered in sheeting to protect it from soot and dirt. If the bed had no springs, a feather bed could be added on top of the mattress. These were expensive and hard to maintain. An under blanket was usually put over the hair mattress. All this needed to be turned and shaken every day, because the fibers tended to mat and clump. Your linens would consist of an under sheet tucked into the lowest mattress to protect it from soot, a bottom sheet, a top sheet, blanket (in winter 3-4 of them), a bolster, and pillows. They would be covered in Holland sheeting then with pillowcases. One good housekeeping writer recommended that blankets be washed every other summer, and sheets once a month, unless 2 people shared the bed, then wash every 2 weeks. Not all sheets were washed at once. The bottom sheet would be taken off and replaced with the top sheet and a clean top sheet put on. The main bedding cleaning was twice a year, spring and fall. The mattresses and pillows would be taken out and aired and every few years taken completely apart, washed, and feathers sifted to get rid of dust. This kind of work could only be accomplished if you had enough room and help. Many could not manage it.A good housewife was expected to check the bedding for fleas and vermin every week. If you found them it meant a major war had to be waged. The bed would have to be taken apart and the pieces washed or soaked with chloride of lime and water. The room had to thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. All cracks had to be repaired and sealed. If the infestation was out of control the bed would be put in an empty room which was sealed airtight and then sulfur was burned to disinfect the bed and surrounding area.People mistrusted laundries because they weren’t sure of what might be in their things when they were returned. They felt the same way about buying used furniture.

Quilting was not only a social pastime but an essential 'chore' as bed linens from a store were often expensive and beyond the means of most people. Victorians Piled on the blankets to keep warm which is why blanket chests were so popular. You needed one to hold them and you needed allot of them to stay warm!

So while we will all grumble next month when that high heat bill arrives, remember, at least we have furnaces!

--
Posted By Paul Wilham to Victorian Antiquities and Design at 1/16/2009