 There's history here. And here. There's history there. History is everywhere. Welcome to Jacksonville's historic Beekman House. The house was built in 1873 and it was lived in, occupied by only the one family, the Cornelius C. Beekman family. And the house is still completely furnished with family artifacts, which is a rarity today when most historic homes are occupied by or furnished with period pieces. The house is now owned by the city of Jacksonville and it's managed by historic Jacksonville. And that's who I represent. So today you're going to get a look inside the house at some of the Beekman furnishings and get an idea of some of the programming that we do here. We try to, the goal of historic Jacksonville is to bring historic buildings in the town to life, because all of Jacksonville is a historic landmark district. But without some events and activities going on, they become just old buildings. And we want them to live. We want to bring the history to life and share the stories with you. Why this house is important, I've already mentioned that it was, that was lived in and occupied by the only the one family, but Cornelius C. Beekman was probably the wealthiest and most prominent of the pioneers who settled Jacksonville. He was a banker. He was invested in real estate. He invested in mines. He sold textbooks. He sold insurance. He was an entrepreneur. He took advantage of all the opportunities that were available in Jacksonville in the late 1800s. So we're, we love to tell his story and share it because it was so interesting. He actually got his start as an express ride, rider for Crammon Rogers, riding two to three times a week over the Siskews, down to Wairika to carry gold letters, newspapers, whatever, and bring them back. And when Crammon Rogers went belly up, he, he took over the business. He established Beekman's Express. And that's how it expanded into all of his other activities. About 1856, the miners were asking him to save their gold until there was enough to go to the Menton San Francisco. So he bought himself a large safe. And that's when Beekman Bank started. So we'll hear, we'll talk about Beekman Bank in another time. But today you get to see about the house and all that went here. The house is, it's actually, although he was one of the wealthiest men around, it's actually very modest because modesty was the ethos of the time. It was before the, the Queen Anne's, and if you got it, flaunt it of later in the century. And Beekman, Beekman was a very down to earth man. And so we love sharing what he and his family experienced because that's one of the things they experienced, all the things that happened in the late 1800s. And then the children experienced them well into the 1950s. So we love sharing that here with you. We love to bring the Beekman house to life for you. And we do it in many different ways. We do regular Victorian theme tours where we look at a different aspect of Victorian life through the lens of Jacksonville and the Beekman family. Some of the tours we do, they include Victorian medical practices. They include Victorian architecture, they include etiquette. We do travel in the Victorian era. But and then we also do all four weekends during the month of December when we celebrate Victorian Christmas. We also though, we bring living history back to you, but we've moved the time frame. So you're no longer now in the Victorian era when we do our living history. You are now in 1932 and you're visiting Depression Era Jacksonville where you have the everyone mining, mining, digging up the streets, digging under their house foundations. You have hobos looking for handouts. You've got, it's just, you've got Franklin Roosevelt is running for governor and Groucho Marx is on the radio. And the Beekman children are back closing up the house with help from a cousin and help from their former housekeeper. And they're reminiscing about growing up in the late 1800s, but also commenting on current affairs. So these are the programs, some of the programs we like to share with you here. Oh, well, my goodness, look at all those friends that have come to visit. We were just expecting Aunt Kate today. Well, please come in out of this heat. Ben and Kerry are going to be so happy that you've come for a visit to step right on into the parlor. I've been fussing around in there and we'll visit a little bit. We thought you were Aunt Kate and she was expected this afternoon. My, I hope you didn't have any trouble getting here. The streets are quite torn up, aren't they? My, my, all these people of Jacksonville are trying to find every little bit of a gold that they can. These are very hard times. Oh, well, Kerry and Ben are upstairs and Kerry should be down any minute now. And I've been going through her music and records to decide which ones she should take back to Portland with her. Oh, I'm so sorry. You might not remember me. I'm Lulu, cousin Lulu. I married Fletcher Lynn and you remember Fletcher. I'm pretty sure he was, you know, he grew right up here in Jacksonville and lived here all those years. We don't get down very much, but, you know, we were here for Julia's, Aunt Julia's funeral. My goodness, what a, what a lot of people were here to pay their last respects. You know, her casket was laid out right there in the corner of the parlor here. And there were ferns banked and the family stood behind those. And oh, my, I'm sure they were standing outside. They were in the sitting room even, standing outside. They probably couldn't hear the reverend say his piece about Aunt Julia. Well, oh, it was very nice, you know. And Kerry's piano student played the piano and her students sang. Well, they played on Kerry's beautiful, mathushic piano. Have you seen that? Such an instrument. Uncle Cornelius bought that for her in the east and willed it to her in his will to make sure that she got. Now, mathushic, he was one of the greatest American piano innovators of all time. And piano makers after that made their pianos like his. It's gorgeous. It's rosewood, carved, just a gorgeous instrument. She had her musicals right in this room. I used to tease her. We have a lot in common, Kerry and I. I've taught music at the university and then moved to Portland and sang solo at the Presbyterian Church. And of course, Kerry and Aunt Julia were, they are, you know, very involved with this Jacksonville Presbyterian Church. So we've had quite a lot in common. It's so nice to have her living in Portland now. Well, she and Ben are upstairs. They're going through all these things and I told Kerry that I would just absolutely go through her records and her sheet music to decide. Now, I was just about to play one of the records on the phonograph. Would you like to hear? Now, this is another gift from Aunt Uncle for Kerry. He loved music and so I'm going to just play this for you. It's pretty tricky, you know. You have to be very careful so you don't scratch the record. It's quite lovely. I think she should take this, but listen. You can control the volume by opening the doors. What do you think? It's very nice piece. So, well, my goodness, Kerry should be down any minute now. And, oh, Kerry, there you are. Ben, I'm so sorry. Mother would be horrified. In the back of the drawer, I found her old panellettes. Well, they date probably from 1890, 1900, but they were in such good condition that I couldn't throw them away. I thought maybe I should just put them in a box for the poor farm. They, somebody's bound to find those warm and comfortable. Mother's anywhere you're going to give to the poor farm? Well, I thought somebody might appreciate them. I'm just so embarrassed that I left them out here when our guests were here. Mother would be horrified. They have her underwear on display. I just was clearing out the closets and the cupboards, and I... Sounds like an idea. We certainly don't need to keep them, do we? No, no. And I thought somebody might appreciate them. They're still in good condition. And then the same thing with the things on the bed, these are, they've been there forever. So I was just going to leave those things there. That piece is older than we are. That came across, that's probably 1840s, I think. I know it's been there as long as I can remember. But then I put Mother's crazy quilt pillows there to brighten it up because the, the jacket coverlet is reinstated. But you know, Mother was so well known for her extraordinary needlework skills that I thought those were a beautiful sample and brightened up the room. And I don't want everything to be there. No, that can just stay right. That's a good idea, a great idea. So I thought I'd leave those as is. And then so many memories with the sewing machine. This was where Mother spent hours, you know. That's a beautiful place. Coming in and... Well, and she made all of my clothes when I went off to Belle Saint Mary. So I, we didn't have to. We were able to buy factory clothes, but she just loved to sew. But I was going to ask you about giving that away to Louise. That's a wonderful idea. She sewed, she had a big family. And Mother taught her to sew. She spent hours here, so. That would, why do we call these things go to? Dress forms. Those were mine. Those were your dress forms. Yes. My lips are sealed on those. But they are flexible. So she can adjust those to her daughters. But yes, those were my dress forms. And then I've been through just about everything in the closet, but I do have some questions to ask. Seven closets to her. You've been through one. We have seven, six to go. Goodness. But there are a couple of blouses in there, a beautiful condition. And I thought of giving those to Aunt Mary and Ashlyn. Wonderful idea. Well, they haven't been doing as well. You know, a lot of people have been suffering with this depression. And we were just very fortunate. Well, because Father did not invest in the stock market, is why we're not selling the house. Well, and then we did inherit money from the New York uncles, too. So I hope everybody else is doing all right during this economy. It's really been difficult. It's been difficult. Ms. Kerry, Mr. Ben, I was just seeing what else to fix you guys for supper tonight. There's a lot of canned goods in the pantry. And I know you won't be needing them when you go back to Portland. Well, you can take some things with you, but you definitely don't want to take these pickles. That's for sure. The Beakmans were so good to me and my family. When Floyd and I got married, they sent over a set of sterling silver flatware, except they left out the knives because they didn't want to cut our friendship. And to this day, Ms. Kerry still sends a very generous Christmas remembrance every year. The money sure helps out in these tough times. My husband, Floyd, he's mainly a rancher, but he's between jobs right now. Sometimes he goes over to the manure orchards and helps his cousins pick pears. Floyd likes to say they got plenty of people to pick the pears, what they need are people to buy the pears. But really, working for the Beakmans was more like a luxury. In 1904, they installed the sanitary sink right here. Prior to that, their cook had to haul water in and out of the house about 16 times a day from the well outside. And then they had to haul dirty water back out again. And this refrigerator ice box, the Medford Ice Company still delivers. You just put the sign in the window and the bottom number tells the driver how many pounds of ice you want. So much more reliable than the old cool house we had out back. And the old stove, she sure is a beauty. But I must admit, I'm a bit partial to the gas stove that I have at my house right now. So much easier to just turn the knobs to get the temperature that you want. Back when I was cooking for the Beakmans, I had to stoke the fire and then move the pots and pans further and closer in order to get the temperature that I wanted. Yes, I'm definitely much more partial to the stove I have now. Oh my, will you look at the time? My husband Floyd's going to be picking me up in just a little while. We're going to go dancing down at the Natatorium in Medford tonight. We're thinking about entering that dance contest. You know the Walk-a-thon? They'll pay us a dollar an hour for every hour they keep moving on the dance floor as long as it's at least 300 hours. Floyd and I think we have a pretty good chance of winning. We've been dancing for as long as we can remember. In fact, we used to go dancing here on Saturday nights and met in Jacksonville at the old Oddfellows Hall. In fact, it was at one of those dances where Floyd and I first met. But lately, the dances have been getting a might-bit rowdy. Too many young men getting liquored up. So a group calling themselves the Jacksonville citizen civically went to the City Council and asked them to put a curb on sin. They wanted more police to be monitoring the goings on at the dances. Well instead of just adding more police, the City Council shut the dances down. That's not what anybody wanted and nobody's been real happy about it since then. Ugh, but look at me just nattering on. I'm sure you have better things to do than to listen to me talk. And I really must see to some of those supper preparations for Miss Kerry and Mr. Ben. So if you don't mind, I'll just have you come out through the summer kitchen here and I just wanted to say thank you again for coming. It's been real nice having you visit. And I know Miss Kerry and Mr. Ben really appreciated your visit. So be careful on your way home. I did see some hobos hanging out on the street corners this morning. I'm Kerry Beekman and I'm always happy to be in the Beekman House. In fact, we've been brother and sister for so long that when you ask what it's like to play the role, it's just my other self. I'm Robert Hyde. I play Ben Beekman, the son. The Beekman's had two children. Kerry and myself. So we have a good time here. We've been doing this for some time and we're pretty knowledgeable of 1932. And I think pretty comfortable working together. So my big brother is constantly teasing me. There's a lot of things to tease her about. She had a few problems socially that I tried to correct. And it's successfully, of course. But marriage isn't for everyone, right, dear? Yes, that's true. And we do talk about our problems. We do share those. Yes. I am Lulu, Lulu Lynn, their cousin Fletcher's wife. And I taught music at the University of Oregon. And we don't get to Jacksonville very much. But when we do, oh, when Kerry and I, we become such close friends because of our music. And I know that she was involved with the Presbyterian Church as I was. And my goodness, I know that there are many, many wonderful stories we have to tell. And we have such a good time going through all the cupboards and classes, finding out more secrets to share. And I'm Louise Manir. I was the housekeeper here at the Beekman, for many years. But I was more than just a housekeeper. I actually became a good friend of Miss Kerry's and Mr. Ben's. And it's my pleasure to be able to come back and help the family whenever I can because they've been so good to me over the years. And it's just been a joy to be able to share this time with them. Preparation after all these years isn't very difficult. I do try to fix my hair as Kerry might have in 1932 using your, what do you call those crimpers? Oh, little clamps. Yes, the hair clamps. From the 1930s. Yes, we try. And then all our clothes are authentic to the time. So these are all very old. We're not that old. But I think we all really are in character the minute we step in the door. Well, I think stepping in the door puts you right in character, whether it's this year of 1932 or in past years that the Beekman House has performed. I feel that way. And what I do to prepare is I read the information that we have. And then rather than trying to memorize, I rather put my own personality into the theme of it. And I think the same. I practically read the scripts. I've been a docent through the Beekman House for other occasions and just kind of taking all that information and kind of incorporating it into what we're doing for this living history. But just learning about the character or the person, the character, and just trying to internalize who she was and trying to figure out how best to do justice to her. I appreciate the 1932 because that era doesn't seem so far away to me. My parents were married in the 1930s. So the issues that are going on there with the politics and the country and the economy, it just it's a lot of it seems quite current to what's going on in our country today. And we do have a good time relating it to our guests so that we express our pleasure at them making a long trip on the dusty roads. But my goodness, with the price of gasoline going up, they can relate to that with the difficulty in getting acquainted. Well, you mentioned the politics, but with new presidential candidates. So it's fun to speak in 1932, but see how closely it relates to what our visitors are experiencing. At this time. And then to share that information with him, because they do interact and so many of them know that time period as we do. And the stories that we've heard from our family. And it's been interesting to see when people come through the house and their grandparents maybe had a sanitary sink, like the one that we have in the Beekman house, or they had a bathroom that they also purchased at Sears. And so it's kind of fun for them to say, oh, my grandparents used to have something just like that. That's very neat. One of my fondest memories is when I brought my 93 year old mother to visit. And she peaked in the pantry in the kitchen and I said, you can't touch those are artifacts. And she said, artifacts, those are my kitchen items. Thank you so much for joining us today. And we hope to see you here at the Beekman house for one of our many events. You can get more information at our website, which is historic Jacksonville.org. Or you can email us at info at historic Jacksonville.org. So what can I say? See you at the Beekman house.