Tours resume at historic site

NEW MADRID, Mo. - The large wooden door of the Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site is opening wide to welcome visitors again.

On Tuesday, the staff at the antebellum home, located on Highway U in New Madrid, began offering tours of the two-story home after being closed to the public since November due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

Vicki Jackson, site manager, couldn’t be more pleased about welcoming back guests.

“We are very much looking forward to seeing people and to giving tours. That is what we do. That is what we like to do,” she said

With a laugh, Jackson added, “We need to talk to someone other than ourselves. Fair warning, probably in the first few tours the people are going to have to tell us to stop talking because we have a lot of information stored up.”

Jackson said while the site was closed to visitors, the staff was busy.

“We have tried to take advantage of that extra time by completing projects that we normally can’t do while we are giving guided tours,” she said.

The kitchen received a new coat of paint. Wallpaper was replaced in one of the bedrooms as well as a hallway. Two of the upstairs fireplace mantles were in need of a refresh and received new coats of paints as well.

Jackson and Matt Davis, interpretive resource specialist, together made a new floor cloth for a small hallway. The cloth, typical of those used in homes in the 1860s, was not easy, they agreed.

Davis also used the opportunity to learn how to faux-grain, a technique of creating a wood-grain look. According to staff research, the Hunter-Dawson home had faux-grain throughout the house when completed in the 1860s.

Davis worked to recreate the faux-graining on the large wooden doors which separate the dining room and the family room and on other woodwork. Maintenance worker Jeff Williamson refreshed the faux-graining in the kitchen.

There was even some time to do further research on the family. Jackson said they located an agricultural study for New Madrid County from 1850 to 1890 which revealed in 1850 William Hunter was growing a small crop of sweet potatoes and Indian corn.

“Those were the big crops here in New Madrid at that time - potatoes and corn but no cotton. Cotton doesn’t come about here until the 1880s when you start seeing a few farmers who are trying it out,” she said.

Also they used their time to become more adept at social media. Twice a week they sought to post information on the Hunter-Dawson Historic Site’s Facebook page. There are videos of Davis demonstrating and explaining faux-graining, children’s activities and virtual tours, which proved to be very popular.

Davis and Jackson said there was a learning curve involved in making and uploading the videos. The effort, they agreed, enabled them to reach a whole new audience.

“With doing our candle-light tour last year as a virtual event, we reached people who would never be able to see it in person. So it showed us the value of these virtual tours. Next year, hopefully, we will be able to do it as an in-person event but we will also do it as a virtual event so that people who won’t be able to come to New Madrid for candlelight tours will still be able to see it,” Jackson said. “So that was something really interesting that COVID taught us.”

The audience widened even further when the host of the You Tube channel, The History Underground, visited the house and completed a 20-minute video on the Hunter-Dawson Home.

“We linked to that You Tube channel on our Facebook page,” Jackson said. “At last count we had 340,000 views on that You Tube channel just of our video. So we reached people that never would have heard of Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site otherwise. Now they are able to take a virtual tour through here.”

The Hunter-Dawson House is open Tuesdays through Sundays. Tours begin on the hour at 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 and 3 Tuesday through Saturday and on Sundays at 1, 2 and 3. Tour rates are $5 for adults, $3 for those ages 6-17 and free for children under age 6.

To maintain social distancing, tours are limited to six people at a time. While the staff will be wearing face masks, masks are not required of the public.

Jackson noted the staff will take other precautions including sanitizing the handrails and doorknobs between tours.

Also she said the Hunter-Dawson Home will not host its traditional Easter Egg Hunt for children this year. However, it is an event she hopes will return in 2022.