Having a Staycation Day! - Part 1

One of the benefits of living in Atlanta, Georgia that there is so many things to see and do. So this month for my birthday I decided to do a staycation. You may ask what is a staycation? A staycation is a vacation spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions. This is the first time in a long time that I treated myself in being a tourist in the city that I live in.

I first visited the Swan House in the rich side of Buckhead, Atlanta. Edward Inman, the heir to a large cotton blockage fortune amassed in the post-Civil War "New South" era, was a wealthy Atlanta businessman with interests in real estate, transportation, and banking. In 1924, he and his wife Emily hired the architectural firm of Hentz, Reid, neighborhood located about six miles north of downtown. This place was also filmed in the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and it had its own tour.

Being a registered dietitian/nutritionist, I wanted to see the kitchen area of this majestic mansion. To my surprise I was in shock at how big the kitchen area was and the types of cookware and appliances that were used. Here is what the Atlanta History Center mention about the kitchen area:

"The kitchen was updated in the 1950's, but the 1936 Magic Stove has been returned and a 1929 model refrigerator has been added. The family's full-time cook made beaten biscuits with the biscuit break to the left of the stove; the butler/chauffeur hand churned ice cream every Sunday; while luncheons hosted by Mrs. Inman usually included an elegant dessert or mousse prepared by caterers using the molds visible in the glass door cabinet. Most of the Inman's staff were African Americans. They worked every day but had Sunday off cater serving the large midday meal. After thirty-two years of service with the Inman family, in 1933 Lizzie McDuffie left to work for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House; she became an indispensable member of his staff." "In the butler's pantry there is a large 1932 refrigerator-freezer for ice cream and molded desserts. Servants cleaned and stored dishes, sliver and linens here in the pantry."

Another thing that was interesting at the Swan House was the fashion exhibit in each room. The Atlanta History Center explained that in:

"Each main room of the 1928 Swan House presents examples of the defining clothing of a particular decade. Spanning the 1920s through the 1960s, Fashion in Good Taste explores Atlanta’s past through fashion for each of the decades that Swan House was occupied by the Inman family. From the drop waist dresses of Jazz Age flappers to the military-style uniforms of World War II Red Cross workers, fashion is a public statement contextualizing the moments in our lives."

"The exhibition comprises 28 examples of women’s and men’s clothing, including two women’s hats. Six of the pieces were designed or created by Georgia women. They include Atlanta designers Clyde Ingram, Thelma Swafford, and Ann Moore; Atlanta milliners Loretta Bonta and Lillian B. Head; and North Georgia weaver Mary Crovatt Hambidge.Fashion in Good Taste includes three pieces by Ann Moore. In the decade before the Civil Rights movement launched, the Spelman College graduate (class of 1943) departed Atlanta for Detroit, optimistic about the opportunities that a city without strict segregation laws could offer. During a distinguished career, Moore established her own fashion house in the Motor City, Ann Moore Couturiere. Jet and Vogue featured designs from her collections. Moore now makes her home in Atlanta, and the Atlanta History Center serves as the largest repository of her work, including 28 outfits and accessories in its permanent collection."

Below are some of the pictures of the outfits that were worn during that period of time. I would recommend anyone who comes to Atlanta to stop by the Swan House and the Atlanta History Center. It is so important to learn about own history because it does shape all of own futures.