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November 20, 2009

Historical society hosting Christmas house fundraiser

Submitted by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society

How would you decorate a 161-year-old house for Christmas? 

Decorating the Blunt House for the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society’s fundraiser has commenced. The 1848 house is the second oldest house in Dalton and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was occupied solely by the family of Ainsworth Emery Blunt, who was Dalton’s first mayor and first postmaster and one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church both in Chattanooga and in Dalton.

No one era is reflected in these decorations, for the family celebrated Christmas in the house for 130 years. Most of the decorations will be holiday items found in the house and live greenery. There will be Christmas books, many with inscriptions on the flyleaf written to or from family members. Christmas gift boxes, wrapping paper, stickers and cards that belonged to Emery Blunt Kirby will be shown. Christmas toys and a six-sided puzzle titled “Santa’s Travels” will be displayed. For collectors of ephemera, there will be a large number of Victorian “Fringies,” which are lovely, double-sided holiday cards trimmed with silk fringe.

The most exciting object to be shown will be a recently acquired silhouette of Harriet Ellsworth Blunt, Ainsworth Emery Blunt’s first wife. The house was being built for Harriet and Mr. Blunt, but she died before it was completed. Mr. Blunt’s second wife, Elizabeth Ramsey, became the lady of the house instead.

The historical society had always wanted a likeness of Harriet Ellsworth. On Oct. 16, 2009, Reece McWilliams, the great-great-great-grandson of Ainsworth Emery Blunt and Harriet through their daughter Martha Ellsworth Blunt and her husband Benjamin Clark Morse, visited the house and gave the society a small silhouette with the name Harriet Ellsworth written across the bottom in very old ink and script.

The Blunt House Christmas tours will take place Friday night, Dec. 4, from 6 to 9, and Saturday afternoon, Dec. 5, from 2 to 5. Tickets are $10 each and may be purchased at Crown Gardens & Archives, from any historical society member, or at the door.

The Blunt House is at 506 S. Thornton Ave. Park in the First Methodist Church’s parking lot closest to Thornton Avenue, walk down the sidewalk along Thornton, and enter the front door.

For more information, call (706) 278-0217 or (706) 278-9760.

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