JACKSON HOUSE MUSEUM

DINING ROOM

Sharing a meal with your family and friends was just as important when the Jacksons lived here as it is today. After the mid-day meal, the Jacksons spent time together in the dining room relaxing and in conversation, Anna said, “this was one of the brightest periods in the home life.”

Video Transcript

The dining room served as both a public and a private room, and every proper dining room needs a good table. This table the Jacksons purchased on one of their many trips up North, and it has several features to it. It is an extension table, but it also has foot levelers. And for a home that’s nearly 60 years old when the Jacksons move in, foot levelers are very desirable. Jackson woke up every morning at 6 a.m., had private prayers, took his cold bath and morning walk, before coming into the dining room at 7 a.m. for family prayer. Everyone in the house was expected to attend family prayer – visitors and the enslaved persons of the household. Faith was very important to Jackson. He often wrote letters to his sister Lara about his faith and encouraged her in her own. By the 1860s, Laura wrote to Jackson asking if he would send her a Bible. The Bible he purchased for her you can see here in the dining room, and it’s opened up to a very special page. In April of 1861, when Jackson received his orders to take the cadets to Richmond, the last thing he and his wife did in this household was read from 2nd Corinthians 5. As they read through that chapter, they wondered whether Jackson would even return home again. After the morning prayers, the Jacksons would have their meal here in the dining room. The enslaved persons did not join the Jacksons for the meal as they would have had their meal downstairs in the kitchen. Now Jackson … punctuality was very important to him. He expected both in his professional life, as well as his private, that if you had a meeting, you were to keep it. And if you happened to arrive late to family prayer at 7, you would get locked out. Anna even got locked out on one occasion!

Jackson Family Items

Teapot

This teapot is one of a few items from Julia Jackson, Thomas’s mother. It was donated by Julia Preston, Thomas Jackson’s granddaughter. The tip of the original spout was broken off and has been restored with an affixed plaster replica.

Bible

This 1857 American Bible Society Bible was donated by Beatrice Giffin, the granddaughter of Jackson’s sister Laura Arnold. It was intended as a gift from Thomas to Laura, but it did not reach the Arnold family until 1867, when it went to her youngest son Stark.

Sofa

This sofa was listed on the estate inventory completed after Jackson’s death in June 1863. It is believed to be the sofa Thomas purchased at an auction and later reported to his sister Laura, “I bought our sofa there and it has turned out to be a great cheat.” It is unsure whether he meant the couch was a bargain or a regretted purchase.

Wooden chair without arms and with a cane seat.

Cane-Bottom Chairs

These 6 cane-bottom chairs all belonged to the Jacksons and were originally part of a larger set. Unupholstered chairs like this were preferred in the dining room because they were easier to clean.

Short, round dark wood table with three legs.

Dining Table

This mahogany pedestal extension table belonged to Thomas Jackson. Pedestal extension tables like this were a rather new innovation in table designs, dating circa 1840.

White Pitcher

This white pitcher embellished with a floral design belonged to the Jacksons. The pitcher is ironstone – a type of durable, white earthenware that resembles porcelain.

Iron contaier and tools including fire poker.

Fireplace Set

In 1863, Mary Anna gave this fireplace set to Governor and Mrs. Letcher, who were formerly residents of Lexington. It was eventually donated to the Jackson House by the Letcher family.

Spoons

These fiddle and thread pattern silver spoons bear Thomas Jackson’s monogram. They were donated by Julia Preston, Thomas’s granddaughter. The existence of standardized silverware designs like this allowed the growing middle-class a more affordable way to amass a silverware set: buying their silverware piece-by-piece as they could afford to do so.

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