Death and Mourning in the 19th Century Tour

Tickets: $20 for museum members $25 for not-yet-members

Explore the Phelps Mansion Museum after dusk and discover the Gilded Age’s complicated relationship with death during a special candle-lit tour. Going room by room, you’ll learn about the era’s funeral customs, mourning rituals, and the superstitions that shaped how Americans faced mortality and experience over 100 unique and authentic objects. Mark Twain once called death “the impartial friend… the immortal who treats us all alike.” In the late 19th century, that impartial friend visited often — and people responded by building an entire culture around it. Postmortem photographs, special coffins, mourning dress, unsettling tales like Shadows from the Walls of Death, and old beliefs (did three knocks at the door really mean death was coming?) all flourished during this time. In many parlors, you’d find a wreath woven from the hair of a deceased loved one — displayed for visitors, and doubling as a kind of family tree passed down through generations. Join us to learn how a culture confronted, mourned, and memorialized its dead. Please note that tours run about 1.5 hours and involve standing for most of that time. Tickets: $20 for museum members $25 for not-yet-members