It’s Belmont Mansion’s third annual Savor History celebration and a deliciously unique way to support Belmont Mansion’s public programs and restoration projects, with participating restaurants and shops donating a portion of the day’s sales to the mansion.

So, make it a date and enjoy breakfast, lunch and/or dinner at restaurants in Edgehill Village and the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood.

Savor History is co-chaired by Keith Durbin and Tim Walker.

Shops and restaurants are still being added. Keep watching for updates.

In addition to the Traveling Trunk, an educator  can come to the classroom to speak on a variety of themes including Adelicia Acklen and her effect on local Tennessee history, civil war topics, 19^th century culture, etiquette, and architecture, as well as art and museum studies.

For more info please contact James Hayden at james.hayden@belmont.edu or call 615-460-5459.

April 21, 2012    Symposium: Frist Lecture Hall, Belmont Mansion

Speaker Schedule and Bios

Keynote Speaker:  Sumpter Priddy III

The Rarest Tennessee Books and Documents – George Webb, Jr.

Event Luncheon:  Historic Belmont Mansion

Rachel and Andrew Jackson’s Family Silver – Dr. Benjamin Caldwell, Marsha Mullins, and Sarah Campbell Drury

Women Artists of Williamson County – Rick Warwick

Self-guided tour of the Leu Art Gallery exhibit Sense of Place featuring paintings, lithographs and drawings by the late Carroll Cloar. A nationally recognized American painter, Cloar’s style has been described as simultaneously primitive and progressively modern. This exhibit is curated by David Lusk.

Sumpter Priddy III – Sumpter Priddy III holds a Bachelors Degree in the History of Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Masters from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. He served six years as curator for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and tutored for the Historic Deerfield Summer Fellowship Program.

Long intrigued by the relationship between architecture, history and the decorative arts, he is one of the most active researchers in the field. His rediscovery of numerous artisans whose work shaped taste in early America has contributed significantly to a larger understanding of the complexity of regional style. Recent research includes the careers and the products of craftsmen who came from around the globe to Washington, D.C. during the Federal period.

Sumpter Priddy III lectures frequently throughout the United States. He has contributed articles to The Magazine Antiques, the Chipstone Foundation’s American Furniture, and has served as consultant to numerous publications.

Dr. Benjamin Caldwell is an advanced collector and scholar of American antiques, particularly silver, and has lectured extensively throughout the United States on the subject of decorative arts. He has acted as a consultant to a number of Tennessee museums and is the author Tennessee Silversmiths (University of North Carolina Press, 1989) and a co-editor of The Art of Tennessee.  He has been documenting, photographing and studying President Jackson’s silver for the past twenty years.

Marsha Mullins is Vice President of Museum Services at The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson and has been with The Hermitage since 1986.  She holds master’s degrees from the University of Notre Dame in American Studies and from Texas Tech University in Museum Studies, as well as a BA in History from Indiana University.  She co-directed the Hermitage mansion interior restoration project that restored the mansion to the 1837-1845 period.

Sarah Campbell Drury is a collector, student and appraiser of antiques, specializing in silver. She has authored numerous articles on antiques for publications including The Magazine Antiques, Maine Antique Digest and Silver Magazine. She is Vice President of Decorative Arts at Case Antiques Inc., Auctions & Appraisals and an accredited member of the International Society of Appraisers.

Rick Warwick has traveled many miles on Tennessee roads documenting the area’s material culture for over 30 years.  After staging a chair exhibit on 19^th Century Middle Tennessee chair maker Dick Poynor, collectors encouraged him to continue surveying others’ forms, which includes extensive research on sugar chests, candle stands, local portraits, samplers and coverlets.  The result is Warwick’s research is in his book Williamson County: More Than a Great Place to Live.  In addition to serving as editor of the Williamson County Historical Society’s publications since 1990, Warwick has written two books on his community of Leiper’s Fork, a travel guide on Williamson County’s historical markers, and a history of western Williamson entitled Out There in the First District.  Warwick has also compiled numerous other books including, Triune: Two Centuries at the Crossroads, the publication of the Freedmen Bureau’s Labor Contracts of 1866 in Williamson County, The Civil War as Seen through the Female Experience, and most recently Portraits of Williamson Countians.  Rick has served on the boards of the Tennessee Historical Society, Carnton, Carter House, the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County and the Williamson County African American Heritage Society.

Belmont Mansion’s Director of Weddings & Rentals, Rev. Brandon Rich, will host our second annual Day of Walk-In Weddings on Valentine’s Day 2012. Couples will be able to walk-in with marriage license in hand, without making an appointment, and get married! Married couples will also be welcome to come and renew their wedding vows.  Rev. Rich will provide ceremony vows and officiating services, plus our premier photographer, Ladak Productions, will be on-site with Rev. Rich offering in-house wedding photography packages. For more information click here to visit our Valentine’s Day wedding page or contact Rev. Rich at 615.460.6589 or Brandon.Rich@Belmont.edu.

Belmont Mansion’s GPS location is 1700 Acklen Avenue, Nashville, TN  37212.

There is no better way to get some Christmas cheer than to attend our Annual Christmas Dinner on December 13th!
Tickets are $100 per person and reservations are required. Valet parking is provided.

6:30 p.m. – Wassail
7:00 p.m. – Dinner

Dinner Menu

Louisiana Lump Crab cakes with Popcorn Shoots and Spicy Remoulade
Phyllo Wrapped Pear and Roquefort with Mixed Greens and Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette
Grapefruit Sorbet
Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Green Peppercorn Cream
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Individual Spinach Casserole
Christmas Trifle
Coffee and Iced Tea and Water

Luncheon Menu

Roasted French Chicken Breast with Apricot Beurre Blanc
White Aged Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli with Sautéed Red Peppers
Warm Apple Strudel with Raisins and Walnuts served with Vanilla Anglais
Coffee and Iced Tea and Water

Followed by entertainment by Michael Valentine.

If you would like to make a reservation, please call 615-460-5459 or email kate.wilson@belmont.edu

At 6PM, Tamera will share in more detail about her writing journey and how she came to write the first of (what will be) three novels that portray Adelicia as the born-before-her-time woman we all know she was. Tamera’s brief presentation will be followed by Q&A and a booksigning. An autographed copy of A Lasting Impression would make a great Christmas present!

We’re thrilled about the release of this novel and hope you can join us!

A Lasting Impression Booksignings on Thursday, November 17

6:00 – 7:00 PM

Public Presentation and Booksigning

Light refreshments will be served at both.

Many of you have probably heard the name Mancil Ezell in relation to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Ezell’s tours have attracted visitors from all over Nashville and the world! He and Executive Director Mark Brown have cooked up a special art tour which will highlight many of the extraordinary pieces in Belmont Mansion’s collection.

Communicating an educational message in a fun and informative way takes quite a gift, and if you have never heard Ezell’s tour you will be in for a treat. Mancil has over 38 years of experience in teaching, training and writing for higher education instructors.

“My academic forte was adult learning styles,” Ezell says. “How you and I learn and how you translate a learning strategy so that everyone comes to the trough at least once in a class period.”

Ezell was in the “first class” of docents at the Frist Center and his enthusiasm is evident in both his love of art and people. He has been there more than 10 years!

A lot of prep work goes into researching, weaving and learning a tour—at least one hour a day. Ezell says childhood chores on an Alabama farm are responsible for his structured way of learning.

“I’m highly regulated and disciplined—my family says ‘boringly so’,” he says.

But you won’t find this tour dull! We guarantee it will be lively yet informative…and what a way to see yet another fascinating aspect of Belmont Mansion!

The art tour will start in April at 2 p.m. and run every two weeks. Tickets are $10 per person and $5 for members.

For more information please visit our website www.belmontmansion.com or call 615-460-5459.