Wear your mourning attire (or dress in black) and join us for an afternoon exploring mourning traditions and rituals from the 1800s: the weeping widow; sorrowful music played and sung; tragic love stories; a seance; mourning hair jewelry; and a display of widow's weeds. Meet Edgar Allan Poe! Kids get to make a ghost in the Newbury Pioneer House and listen to ghost stories in the Timber School and Blacksmith Shop . Boo!

During the 19th century, there was great social pressure on Victorians to make grieving public, not private. This "public" mourning had to be practiced in accordance with a highly structured system of etiquette. Wearing mourning attire, both fashionable and correct, was a tradition that Victorian women strictly adhered to. A head-covering of a long crape veil was mandatory mourning etiquette for a widow. All accessories were to be black. Periods of mourning were prescribed by your relationship to the deceased. Widows were expected to wear full mourning for two years.

Come and learn more about these fascinating traditions! Regular admission applies.