John Jay French House, Beaumont, Texas

This year we ventured down to Beaumont, Texas and one of the cool things that we saw was the John Jay French House.

John Jay French was a trader and tanner from New York. He built this house in 1845 and it is the oldest house in Beaumont. It was built as a dog-run house - that's where there are rooms on either side of a breezeway but the breezeway is left open.

Mr. French's wife, Sallie, didn't want the breezeway open so that animals could tramp through there. So, Mr. French put doors on either end of this breezeway.

Our historian was particularly proud of the paint on this ceiling. It's ORIGINAL to the house. That's right! The paint was made with indigo and buttermilk to create the color. Pioneers painted the ceilings of their rooms "H'aint Blue". The thought process here is that it looks like the sky so it discourages bugs as well as spirits from hanging around. Plus it was made with buttermilk which I would assume would have soured and kept bugs away based on the smell?

Immediately to the right is the French's master bedroom. The ceilings here are also blue as they are throughout the house but these have been repainted by the restorers and are not quite the same color.

This is the rope bed that the French's would have slept on. There was no box spring. Ropes were strung in a grid underneath the mattress. The more you slept on the bed, the more they would loosen and you would sag. So there was a tool they had that would tighten those ropes. The phrase "Good night, sleep tight", that's referring to the ropes on the bed. The mattress would have been stuffed with hay and other materials which would have attracted bugs, prompting the last part of that rhyme, "Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Like all pre-plumbing families, the pitcher and basin would be used to wash up.

Not a lot of the furnishings belong to the Frenchs as the house was owned by others before it came into the hands of the Historical Society. These photographs and the clock do belong to them. On the left on the mantle is John Jay French. The photo on the wall above him is his son, David. Then on the other side is his son, John Jay II and on the mantle is Sallie French, his wife. The clock belonged to Mr. French as well. According to our historian, Mr. French rebuilt this clock when it stopped working. His thought was that nothing on earth was perfect so he always left an imperfection in the things that he made. In this case, it's the numbers on the clock. He used a Roman numeral for 11.

When you walk through the door to the next room, you find yourself in the bedroom shared by Mr. French's two sons. There was quite an age disparity between the boys. One was a pre-teen and the other a young man. They had a daughter as well but she stayed behind in New York. Two other children were lost in childbirth and one daughter, Electa Jane, was stricken from the family bible for marrying a man of whom Mr. French disapproved.

Across the hall to the next room which was Mr. French's office and what appears to be a guest room of sorts. Mr. French was a tanner and was also a trader. He kept very meticulous records of who owed him what, including his sons. When patrons couldn't pay in cash, he took other things for payment such as animals, work, and other food stuffs. I love this desk. 

This is the daybed that is in Mr. French's office. This is what makes me thing it could have been a guest room as well.

The door leads to the parlor which is where you would be led if you were a visitor. While this piano and stove didn't belong to the Frenchs, they had items similar to these. The stove was purely for heat. It wasn't for cooking.

Back out into the breezeway is a very narrow opening with a steep set of steps that leads up to this room. This would have been kind of an all purpose room. There was a bed if there were visitors, in fact one of the sons lived up here after he got married as he waited for his own house to be built. That knee-high railing on the left of the photo is all that keeps you from falling down those stairs.

This is a quilt. In the pioneer times, the women would gather (though with all the work they had to do, I don't know when they had time!) and all work on a portion of the quilt and chat. The ropes are attached to a quilt frame that adjusts to the size of the quilt as it grows. The ropes can pull the whole contraption up to the ceiling to get it out of the way if the space is needed for other things.

Spinning wheels to make cloth to then use for clothes. The historian was telling us that in order to keep the cloth uniform in thickness, the spinner would spin to the tune of "Pop goes the weasel". If you spun to that tune, the thickness would be perfect. Ugh! That's an ear worm if I ever heard one.

Storage for clothes, shoes, etc. I like the shoes.

There's a spot on the floor by the railing that is a bullet hole.  That's where a robber called Charlie Yank was killed. Apparently, this guy would sneak into people's homes and steal their money or other stuff but they could never catch him. He wanted one last haul before he blew town. Mr. French got wind of the fact that he was the intended victim. Men waited upstairs for Charlie Yank to break in. When he did, he got a surprise and a bullet. There are rumors of hauntings. While we were there, the historian thought something moved on its own but I didn't see it.

Back out the front door, under the covered porch to the kitchen. For safety reasons, the kitchen was not in the main house. What our historian is showing us is a tree branch broom that was used to "sweep" the lawn to prevent grass from growing, which would prevent bugs and critters from settling close to the house.

When you open the door, the first room is the dining room. So everyday, multiple times, the French family would come over here to eat. That would suck in the winter or if it was stormy.

This is the kitchen. It's kind of a dark photo but there are all kinds of implements. If they wanted coffee, Sallie would have to roast the beans, grind the beans and then boil the coffee. I would have to be a serious addict to go through all that for coffee. Hopefully she would roast enough to last for a while to shorten that process.

This stove was used for many things. Note that it's sitting in a sandbox. That is so that when embers come out that opening on the side, they fall into the sand and die out versus landing on the floor and catching the place on fire. I would imagine Sallie spent all of her time here unless she had help. The iron is there - there are two of them actually. The one in front would have required a glove or something to handle it. Right behind it is another iron that has a wooden handle. Those things are seriously heavy! They are cast iron. The two little things next to the iron are curling irons for curling hair.

After the kitchen tour, we were left to wander the property. This building is a wash house where laundry was done. They would have had to boil water, use had made soap and a washboard to wash clothes. I hate doing laundry now. I can't imagine doing it the old fashioned way.

This little house is a smoke house where they would smoke meat.

The outhouse. I guess two people could go at the same time? No privacy!

These beautiful trees are in a corner of the property. I can't help but wonder if they are as old as the house.

As was mentioned earlier, Mr. French was a tanner as well as a trader. This is where he'd tan hides. It was well away from the house as it was kind of a stinky job. He also had blacksmith tools out here as well. One of his sons took over the business and Mr. and Mrs. French moved to another part of Texas. But both sons stayed here.

Their family Cemetery is on the property as well. Mr. and Mrs. French are not buried here. They are buried in Merkle, Texas, which is where they went when they left Beaumont. The little cemetery has an arch over the entrance that says "French". It's very peaceful. The house is on a dead end street in a quiet neighborhood.

Directly across the street is this house. It belonged to the older son, David French. It is now the office of the Historical Society of Beaumont. They don't show the house because it had been changed so much from the original that it would have been hard to restore it back to the time when David lived there. It's still cool, though.

The house is run by the Beaumont Historical Society. For $5 a person, you too can get a history lesson and check out this amazing house. It's well worth the price of admission.

Iolani Palace, Honolulu HI

Back in the day, Hawai'i had a monarchy. It was a group of islands that were ruled individually until 1795 when Kamehameha I unified the islands under his rule. The monarchy lasted less than 100 years and was overthrown by European and American businessmen.

Here's a quick run down: Kamehameha I ruled from 1793 - 1819 when he died. He was succeeded by his son, Liholiho. When crowned, the son became known as Kamehameha II. This guy and his wife had gone to England to visit the Queen when they were both struck by measles and died. This was in 1824. 

Liholiho's younger brother took over and called himself Kamehameha III. He was only 12 so he had a co-regent. It was his stepmother. She died when he was 18 so he took a wife. He was very interested in western ways but still wanted to keep his own culture. He had the longest reign of all when he died in 1854.

Next came KIII's adopted son, Alexander Liholiho. When he came to power, he called himself Kamehameha IV. He married Emma Rooke. You see Queen Emma's name around Honolulu quite a bit. KIV was interested in educating his people and providing health care. He opened the Queen Emma Hospital. He also resisted the push by the American government to become a state. KIV had severe asthma and died in 1863. His brother took over and called himself Kamehameha V but died in 1872 with no named heir.

With no named heir, there was an election and William Lunalilo won. He was the grand-nephew of King Kamehameha I. He was elected in 1873 but unfortunately, he died within a year. Since he didn't name and heir either, there was another election held. This time Queen Emma (she was married to KIV) ran against David Kalakaua. David won and he's the guy that built the palace.

This is the front of the palace which was built in 1882. David was very high tech and had all the latest and greatest things like electricity, indoor plumbing and a new fangled gadget called a telephone. The original palace was built by KIII back in 1845. By the time David took over, the place was falling apart. He ordered it torn down and had this new version rebuilt.

The coronation pavilion. When Kalakaua won the election, Queen Emma's supporters were not happy and they caused a riot. The Marines had to be called in to quell the masses. Kalakaua was sworn in quickly the next day. As a result, he didn't have a fancy coronation ceremony. In 1883, he had the pavilion built on the palace grounds and held the ceremony here. Today the pavilion is used by the Royal Hawaiian Band.

This is the Hale Koa or Iolani Barracks. Built in 1871, the building was used to house the Royal Guard. It was originally located where the state capitol is now. It's a block structure with a courtyard in the center. It once had a mess hall, kitchen, dispensary, berth room and lock up. The building was moved to this location in 1965. Now it has the ticket office and the gift shop as well as a video theater.

When you walk into the palace from the front door, this is your view. This is the grand hall with this beautiful staircase. Around the room are portraits of the Hawaiian monarchy. In the niches are various items collected by the family from around the world. The Grand Hall runs the width of the palace.

A small waiting area. It's between the Grand Hall and the Blue Room.

When facing the stairs in the grand hall, if you turn to the left and go into the next room, you enter the Blue Room. This is where Kalakaua would have informal audiences or smaller receptions. 

In the Blue Room there's a portrait of Queen Lili'uokalani, sister of Kalakaua along with the dress that she wore in the portrait. When he was sworn in, Kalakaua immediately named his brother as his successor. Unfortunately, his brother died in 1877 so David named his sister, Lili'uokalani as his heir. She was his regent as he traveled the world.

There is also a portrait of David Kalakaua as well.

If you walk into the next room, you come to the state dining room. The table is set with Bohemian crystal and Paris porcelain. The portraits on the wall are of foreign leaders of the time. Kalakaua sat in the middle of the table (in the biggest chair) so that he could converse with all his guests.

Cross the Grand Hall to the other side of the palace and you enter the Throne Room. It runs the width of the palace as well. It's the largest room in the palace. This is where Kalakaua would hold formal audiences, diplomatic receptions and state balls. It was also in this room that the trial of Queen Lili'uokalani took place. Note the two throne's in the back. They were for King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi'olani. When greeting their guests, they preferred to stand rather than sit on the throne.

King David Kalakaua's coronation outfit.

Queen Kapi'olani's coronation dress and robe.

The crowns that were made for the 1883 coronation.

The upstairs hall. We didn't climb that beautiful staircase. We took an elevator.

The top of the grand staircase.

The first room is the King's bedroom. It's right off the staircase to the right when coming up the right side of the stairs.

Next to the King's bedroom was his library. It was here that he had the latest technology: a telephone!

The last room on this side of the palace was the music room or the "Gold Room". The royal family liked listening to and playing music. The restoration team had tons of photos to use to recreate this room. 

A view from the window of the music room. The Royal Hawaiian Band is playing outside.

On the other side of the hall from the King's bedroom is the Queen's bedroom. Red seems to be a favorite color of the royal family. 

The Queen's bathroom. They had running water and flushing toilets in this palace!

Next to the Queen's room is another guest room. In here they have Queen Kapi'olani's peacock feather gown. It features peacock feathers cascading down the gown and was worn by the queen at Queen Victoria's 1887 Golden Jubilee. This is a replica of that dress.

This is a replica of the lilac ostrich feather dress worn by Queen Lili'uokalani in 1891 after she became Queen. In December of 1890, King Kalalaua sailed to San Francisco and then on to Santa Barbara where he suffered a minor stroke. On January 20, 1891, he died and his sister took over as Queen. Then ten days later, her husband died. 

In 1893, she tried to re-write the constitution to bring back power to the throne and to restore rights to the native people of Hawai'i. Instead, she was deposed and a provisional government was set up with Sandford Dole as President. She relinquished the throne to avoid bloodshed.

Queen Lili'uokalani sent a letter to Grover Cleveland asking for help. He asked if she would give amnesty to the usurpers and she said no. That did not help her cause. She later changed her stance but it was too late. In 1895, her supporters staged a rebellion but it failed and she was arrested. Her trial was held in the Throne room. She was found guilty and imprisoned in this room for eight months. She was denied any visitors except for one lady companion. The two women made this quilt while they were imprisoned in the room.

In 1896, The Republic of Hawai'i pardoned Queen Lili'uokalani and restored her rights as a citizen. She moved back into Washington Place, the home she shared with her husband, John Owen Dominis. She continued to fight to regain her lands but was never successful. She lived here until she died in 1917. The governor of Hawaii at the time gave her a state funeral in the throne room.

The statue of Queen Lili'uokalani.

In 1895, Hawai'i was annexed by the United States and the Iolani Palace was used as a government building. In 1930, it was remodeled and in 1935, the name 'Iolani Palace' was restored. During WWII, the palace served as HQ for the military government. It stayed a government building for the next few years, In 1962, it was named a National Landmark. In 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. 

In 1978, it opened to the public as a museum. By then all the furniture and belongings of the monarchy had been sold. The museum is trying to find them and buy them back.

Hawai'i became a state in 1959.

If you're in Honolulu and need a break from the beach, this place is worth a visit.