Reservations Open for 2013 Holiday Tea

Can you believe it's already November? Time goes so quickly...before you know it, it'll be Christmas! Which reminds me, our Holiday Tea and Fashion Show is approaching quickly.

Our Annual Holiday Tea is our second-largest fundraiser of the year. We have a wonderful time visiting with our friends, members, and supporters in a festive environment. It's one of the rare opportunities Lew's fans have to visit the home where Susan grew up. This year our second partner, along with the Elston Homestead, is Lane Place, where Henry and Joanna (Elston) Lane lived. Both historic homes will be beautifully decorated for the holidays. We're so excited to share this occasion with you!

The Holiday Tea will feature live holiday music from the Wabash College T-Tones, door prizes, refreshments and tea (of course), an interactive fashion show by heathcliff, artist-created holiday wreaths for sale, and, of course, lots of holiday cheer!

Tickets are $25 per person, and reservations are required. The event runs from 3-6 p.m. on December 6, and attendees can drop in any time between those hours. For reservations, call 765-362-5769 or visit our Holiday Tea website and make reservations online via PayPal.

Making A Historic Difference - Part Two

So last week I warned you I was going to ask you for money. Well, this is it--brace yourselves.

We would really appreciate it if you donated money to our Making A Historic Difference campaign.

(That wasn't so bad, was it?)

Thanks to our many generous supporters, we currently have $230,000 secured towards our $300,000 goal. The Jeffris Foundation granted us $100,000 for interior paint restoration, with the caveat that we must double-match that amount--that is, we need to raise $200,000 on our own to match their grant. Because we are owned by the City of Crawfordsville, the city has agreed to provide $30,000 for our efforts. Many private donors have given us $1,000 or more and will be honored with an engraved brick to be placed in front of the Carriage House. Lots of smaller donations have added up.

We're getting close to reaching our goal--but the last few milestones always seem to be the hardest to reach.

If you are able to give and want to be a part of this exciting effort to restore and preserve Lew's ornate interior decorations, won't you consider donating to the Making A Historic Difference campaign?

We've done our best to make the donation process as easy and painless as possible. You can donate from this blog post using your credit card. Our secure payments are processed through PayPal.

You can also donate by calling us at 765-362-5769 and providing your credit card information over the telephone.

Board Member Jerry Spillane was instrumental in helping us have a video created so you can learn more about the campaign. If you have four minutes, join me, Director Larry Paarlberg, and Jerry for a look around the Study.




It's exciting to be so close to reaching our goal. We hope you're excited too, and that you'll be with us through the whole process of restoring the Study interior to Lew's original vision. 

Introducing Our New Website

We are going to be rolling out a new website in the next day or so. Don't worry, all the same information will still be there, along with some new stuff! And you won't have to update your bookmarks; we'll still be at www.ben-hur.com. We are changing the site's appearance, but the menu structure has a similar design as the old website. You shouldn't have to update any links if you've been linking to our website. We'll be using the name page names as far as possible.

So why change things, you're probably wondering?

Over 35% of our 2013 website traffic so far has come from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; unfortunately, our old website wasn't built with a design that would respond to the various screen sizes--it just wasn't something we had to worry about back then. Our new design will adapt the display for optimal viewing across devices from iPhones to iPads to 23" computer monitors.

Here's the biggest change for you blog readers--our blog will no longer be located here at wallacestudy.blogspot.com but will be self-hosted at www.ben-hur.com/blog. If you use a feed-reader to keep up with our posts, you'll need to update your feed. To make it simple, we have a little RSS icon in the right sidebar of our blog page. If you'd prefer, you'll also be able to subscribe to our blog via email and have our entries sent straight to your inbox.

Our new site design will eventually incorporate an online gift shop and e-book sales. Our presence on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest will be better integrated with our website as well as the blog. We will continue to support online memberships and online donations, and this year for the first time Holiday Tea tickets are available to purchase by credit card on our website at www.ben-hur.com/programs/holiday-tea/.

I hope you like the new website design. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, I'm always happy to receive feedback from our members, supporters, and friends. Comment here, at the new blog, or email me with any feedback.

Happy Halloween!

Henry's uniform, on loan from
Children's Museum of Indianapolis

If you're handing out sweets today, make sure to stop by the Study and hand some out to us! Director Larry Paarlberg is a fan of anything dark chocolate. Associate Director/Education Erin Gobel is a York Peppermint Patty fan. Grounds Manager Deb King likes peanut butter cookies. Associate Director/Collections Amanda McGuire prefers peanut butter M&Ms and dark chocolate. I personally will take anything that has the word chocolate in it, but Kit Kat and Butterfinger are a couple of current favorites. :) (We're also frequent customers at Dari-Licious!)

In Lew's day, Halloween wasn't celebrated much outside of Irish and Scottish immigrant communities, but even in the 1860s children did play dress-up. Lew and Susan's son Henry was eight at the outbreak of the Civil War, and he had a child-sized Union uniform and kepi. We currently have the uniform on display in our Carriage House. It is on loan from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and in less than two months, when our 2013 Generations exhibit ends, we'll be returning it to them. If you want to see it, make sure you stop in sometime between now and December 14!

Making A Historic Difference - Part One

If you're a Crawfordsville local, you may have seen signs around town with a big drawing of the Study and the phrase "Making A Historic Difference." You might be wondering why we're trying to raise $300,000 and what we're going to do with that money. We're going to have a series of posts on our blog about The Making A Historic Difference Campaign so you find out why we're so excited and, hopefully, get excited along with us.

Lew's mural

Ella Kostanzer was raised in Montgomery County and was teaching in Chicago when she visited Lew in his Study on January 1, 1900. She described a fresco painted inside the Study dome. An elaborate work of trompe l'oeil,

"The border around the skylight is handpainted, designed by the owner. It consists of implements of warfare in groups chained together. We see the shield, helmet, sword, bugle, breastplate, etc..." - Ella Kostanzer

Fast forward to 2011. Workers at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum were in the midst of their Study Restoration Project designed to address structural deterioration and water damage inside the Study building. With the Study emptied of artifacts, it was an ideal time to have a paint analysis done.

After analysis by Matthew Mosca of Baltimore, we contacted Brian Fick and Mary Yeager of Acanthus Arts in Indianapolis. Thanks to their hard work, Lew's frescoes were partially uncovered.

That's great, but why are you asking for money?

Well, one of our goals here at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is to present the Study as close as possible to the way it looked when Lew used it. With very few exceptions, we have accomplished that. One of the exceptions, however, is the interior paint.

Except for the one corner of the interior paint uncovered by Acanthus Arts, the Study is decorated with paint put up in the 1990s. Not only is that historically inaccurate, but it's just not as dramatic as the paint decorations Lew had. We want to bring back the paint conservators and have them uncover all of the interior paint.

On top of that, we can't turn on the lights in the main room of the Study.

Lew had electricity in the building. Crawfordsville was one of the first cities in Indiana to be electrified. Lew was a wealthy man, and he spared no expense in creating this "pleasure house for [his] soul". The main room of his Study had almost 100 light bulbs in it. But the wiring in many places still dates back to the 1890s. No one wants to be responsible for burning down the Study, so we rely on natural light from the skylight. But we'd love to update the wiring so we can light the Study for evening events.

It'll be a lot of work, and it'll take a lot of money. The Jeffris Foundation of Wisconsin has generously awarded us a $100,000 grant, but we have to match that with $200,000 in funds we raise.

So this is where you come in.

We know you're a dedicated supporter of our museum and mission. After all, you read our blog, and you might even be a member of the Lew Wallace Study Preservation Society. But right now we need a little bit more from you.

Yep, you guessed it, I'm about to ask you for money.

But we'll save that for next week. I want you to take some time to browse our website and Flickr account. Take a look at the pictures we have of Lew's amazing interior paint. Read the articles written for this blog in 2011 while the original paint analysis was being done. Then next week, when you're still on a sugar high from Halloween, come back to the blog and we'll talk about how much we've raised so far and how far we have yet to go.

People Lew Knew: Robert C. Ingersoll

Why did Lew Wallace write Ben-Hur?

In 1876, Lew was on a train headed for a reunion of Union soldiers. Also on the train was Robert C. Ingersoll, a noted agnostic. During the trip, the two men began a conversation on the divinity of Christ and other religious issues. In his efforts to sway Lew with his views, Ingersoll’s arguments instead had an opposite effect.

When the men detrained in Indianapolis, Lew waved the waiting cab off, stating he needed to walk to clear his thoughts. As he walked to his hotel he realized he needed to create a powerful refutation of Ingersoll’s arguments, but that he was ill prepared to do so.

In the mid-1870s, Lew had drafted a short story about the three wise men and their journey guided by the Star of Bethlehem.  He ultimately decided expand this story, through exhaustive research, as a convincing argument supporting the divinity of Christ. This "redraft" of his short story became Ben-Hur.

That's the story we relate to visitors about how Lew wrote the best-selling novel of the 19th century. But a couple of weeks ago, some great visitors who stopped in while waiting on car repairs asked me what happened to Ingersoll, and I didn't know! I had to find out.

What about Ingersoll?

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Ingersoll was an attorney. He served in the Civil War with the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment. He fought and was captured at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. He became the Illinois Attorney General, was active in the Republican Party, was an abolitionist, supported women’s suffrage, was a noted orator, and a famed agnostic.

After their conversation, as Lew pursued his writing, Ingersoll also moved on. Later in 1876, Ingersoll nominated James G. Blaine for President at the Republican Convention in Cincinnati. Hayes. While Blaine lost to Rutherford B. Hayes, Ingersoll’s "Plumed Knight" nomination speech was electrifying and long remembered. Almost 50 years later in 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt likely used that speech as a template for his "Happy Warrior" speech when he placed Alfred Smith’s name in nomination as the Democratic candidate for President.

In 1884, Ingersoll spoke at the Republican National convention in Chicago. On his trip home from the convention, Ingersoll passed through Crawfordsville. It’s not known whether Ingersoll and Lew crossed paths on this particular trip, but while in Crawfordsville, Ingersoll was encouraged to give an oration. Joanna Lane graciously offered the front porch of her home, Lane Place, for the event. The wife of Senator Henry S. Lane, Joanna was a committed Republican who did all she could to support the party. She was also a devout Methodist; sharing her lawn with the agnostic Ingersoll must have been a trial for her. The crowd was enormous and according to news accounts of the day, Mrs. Lane listened attentively.

Like Lew, Robert Ingersoll travelled in powerful circles. Walt Whitman considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time and stated: "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is Leaves of Grass... He lives, embodies, the individuality, I preach. I see in [him] the noblest specimen--American-flavored--pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light."  Ingersoll later delivered the eulogy at Whitman's funeral.

Ingersoll's Continuing Legacy

Ingersoll died in 1899 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1902, a twelve volume set of his complete works was published. In the early 20th century he was referenced in works by authors such as William Faulkner, Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, and P.G. Wodehouse.

More recently a popular edition of Ingersoll's work, edited by Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Page, was published in 2005, by Steerforth Press. Ingersoll's thinking is being brought to new audiences with, "What's God Got to Do With It: Robert Ingersoll on Free Speech, Honest Talk and the Separation of Church and State".

As Robert Ingersoll once said: "There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences." How interesting that one of the consequences of a conversation on a train in the 1870s questioning the divinity of Christ led to the creation of a work like Ben-Hur.

A Review of Our Genealogy Lecture Series

We've been trying some new things out this year. One of those new things is live-tweeting our lectures. For those of you who aren't on Twitter, that may not mean anything, but it's a quick way of communicating little tidbits of information from our events to people who are unable to be here physically. Of course, if you're not on Twitter, you might feel like you're missing out on some of our services!

This is where another new thing comes in: We've collected those tweets using a service called Storify, so if you aren't familiar with Twitter, you can still read those tidbits easily. We've collected four of our genealogy lectures here for your enjoyment.

Cemeteries
Jeannie Regan-Dinius kicked off our lecture series with a discussion of Indiana cemetery laws and how to preserve them and conduct genealogical research using cemetery records and tombstones.

1940 Census
Allison DePrey spoke about the 1940 Census, which was recently released to the public. She discussed what questions were asked, how to search the census records, and how to use the results for genealogy.

From Daguerreotype to Digital: Dating and Preserving Your Family Photos
Joan Hostetler of Heritage Photo and Research Services gave a great presentation on family photographs, and there was a great deal of audience participation as she helped people with their own collections.

Maria's Journey: Writing Your Family History
Ramon and Trisha Arredondo gave an entertaining and informative presentation on their own journey through researching and writing their book Maria's Journey, about Ray's mother.

We hope this proves to be a helpful service to you. Please let us know what you think!

People Lew Knew: Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett

On May 30, 1881, Lew Wallace boarded a rail car on the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe to leave New Mexico Territory. Lew had calmed the Territory during his term in office from 1878 through 1881, and his tenure in office was considered successful. He accomplished much in addressing the critical issues of the Territory; however, his time out west was not wholly satisfying to him and not without controversy. Just a month before his departure, Lew wrote his wife, Susan, a long letter. In it he penned words that have resonated with governors of New Mexico ever since: “All calculations based on our experiences elsewhere fail in New Mexico.”

Although Lew left New Mexico and headed on to the publication of Ben-Hur and his service as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire, he didn’t leave all of his New Mexico experiences behind him. While Lew was the Governor of the New Mexico Territory, Pat Garrett had been appointed Sheriff of Lincoln County by the Republican Party. Prior to that, Garrett had led a complicated life as a cowboy, buffalo hunter, and saloon operator. He was hot-tempered and had already killed a man. Within weeks of his appointment had already killed one of Billy the Kid’s gang members. Just days later, another gang member was killed and Garrett’s posse had captured the Kid.

A few months after his capture in April of 1881, Billy killed two prison guards and escaped. Lew had personally signed Billy's death warrant and ordered the posse that ultimately cornered the outlaw who had threatened to get Lew. This set up a massive man-hunt that was still in progress when Lew boarded his train to leave the Territory. In July of 1881, Pat Garrett shot Billy in a killing that remains controversial 130 years later.

Garrett’s term as Lincoln County Sheriff ended shortly after the killing. He ran for a number of political offices and lost each of them. As his career as a lawman foundered, Garrett moved back and forth between Texas and New Mexico throughout the 1880s and 1890s. With his rough persona and some of the whispers circulating about Billy's death, Garrett found it increasingly difficult to earn a living.

In December of 1901, the Crawfordsville Daily News-Review reported that thanks to Lew's intervention, Pat Garrett had been appointed collector of customs at El Paso, Texas. While Lew did accompany Garrett to the White House in support of the aging lawman, this newspaper report may have been giving Lew more credit than he deserved; Garrett had ingratiated himself with President Theodore Roosevelt, who made the appointment. 

As things turned out, Lew ultimately may have wished to distance himself from the former sheriff. Garrett served his five year term but was not reappointed. At a reception for Roosevelt’s beloved Rough Riders, Garrett showed up his friend, the notorious gambler Tom Powers. Among other things, Powers had been run out of his native Wisconsin after beating his own father into a coma. Photos of Garrett and Powers with the President opened Roosevelt to public criticism.

When his reappointment was denied, Garrett travelled to Washington to personally meet with Roosevelt. Instead of bringing someone with the reputation of Lew Wallace, as he had done in 1901, Garrett brought Tom Powers to the meeting! A plain-spoken man, Roosevelt made it clear to Garrett that he was not going to be reappointed. Although Lew Wallace and Pat Garrett shared a connection through their associations with Billy the Kid, these two men who brought law and order to the New Mexico Territory could not have been more different.

Follow Maria's Journey with Ramon and Trisha Arredondo

Everyone has a story to tell. Maybe someone in your family fought in World War II or marched with the Civil Rights Movement. Maybe one of your ancestors developed an important advancement in the medical or engineering fields. Maybe it's just a story about where you were the day you heard about JFK's assassination... the Challenger explosion... the World Trade Center collapse.

Whatever the story you have to tell, you'll want to join us this coming Thursday for our next genealogy lecture--Writing Your Family History!

Ramon and Trisha Arredondo of northern Indiana told an amazing story about their family when they wrote Maria's Journey, a true story about a fourteen-year-old Mexican girl named Maria, who entered into an arranged marriage to Miguel Arredondo. Maria, Miguel, and their young daughter immigrated to the United States in the 1920s and experienced the Great Depression, the Labor Movement, World War II, and other important eras in American history.

Join us Thursday, October 3 at 7 p.m. in the Carriage House for this fascinating discussion. Ray and Trisha will have copies of their book for sale and will be signing books while they are here.

This lecture is free and open to the public, but seating in the Carriage House is limited. Please RSVP so we can expect you by emailing study@ben-hur.com or calling us at 765-362-5769.

Smithsonian Museum Day Live!

We are once again participating in the Smithsonian Magazine's annual Museum Day Live! Join us Saturday, September 28, and bring your pass to receive free admission for 2 people.

Visitors may gain free entry to the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum with a printed pass from Smithsonian Magazine. In order to receive your pass, you must sign visit the magazine's website, fill out some basic information, select what museum you want to visit, and print out your pass. This year, we are also experimenting with accepting the pass on the screen of your smartphone.

Two other museums in Crawfordsville are participating--the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County and the Rotary Jail Museum. Each pass is only good for one of those museums. The passes are limited to one per household, and are good for two people.

Last year we had great attendance for that day. This year we have a wedding on the grounds in the afternoon, so if you're planning to come, you might want to show up early in the day!

Come Play in the Dirt!

Mark your calendars for this autumn's History Beneath Us weekend. On September 22 & 23, archaeologists from the University of Indianapolis will be joining us to continue excavations on Lew's reflecting pool.

Anne Moore measures the dig site

Visitors will be able to observe archaeologists at work and learn about their methods. Anyone wishing to help with excavations is welcome to do so. Maybe you'll be the next person to find one of Old John's horseshoes. Or you might uncover pieces of window glass, a marble, or even animal bones!

Dr. Chris Moore of the University of Indianapolis and Anne Moore, along with U of I students, will be performing field work here at the Study most of the day Saturday and Sunday. We open at 10, and the archaeologists usually go to lunch sometime around noon. Then they'll be back in the afternoon until 4. Sunday's dig will have the same hours. This event goes on rain or shine, so come prepared for the weather!

This is a great time for scouts to work on badges. We've had several Boy Scout troops come on past weekends. This is also a great family activity. We'll have a kid's area set up where younger children can learn about archaeology while making "discoveries" of various (planted) items.

For more information about History Beneath Us, email us at study@ben-hur.com or call 765-362-5769.

From Daguerreotype to Digital: Dating and Preserving Family Photographs

Lew & Susan Wallace Descendants pose for a family photo.
Come to the Carriage House for a closer look!

Is your family photo album neatly organized with all the names, dates, and locations written on the back? Even more organized, is it in archival scrapbooks with appropriate labels in chronological order? Or is it more like mine--a few haphazard scrapbooks and albums with photos that may or may not be labelled, with the extra photos shoved in boxes that aren't organized by...much of any criteria?

Whatever the answer, you may be interested in popping in for our upcoming genealogy lecture. If you're uber-organized, you can sit there and feel smug. If you're like the rest of us, you can learn how best to preserve your family photographs. And if your photos are unlabeled, you can learn how to be a photographic detective and figure out a little bit more about those unlabeled, undated, unidentified photos!

Join us September 12 at 7 p.m. at the Carriage House for this free lecture. Joan Hostetler of Heritage Photo and Research Services will discuss photographic processes and formats from the 1840s to the present. She will share clues for dating photos and techniques for preserving them. Bring your own family photos to learn more about them!

The lecture is free, but we do like to have a head-count beforehand, as space is limited. Please RSVP by emailing us at study@ben-hur.com or calling us at 765-362-5769.

If you're unable to join us that night, you can always follow us on Twitter, where we livetweet tidbits from the lecture with the hashtag #genealogy.

Fall Events at the Study

Happy September! We have a busy fall planned. We'll blog about all of these events in more detail later, but for now, here's a quick overview of important dates at the Study in September and October. Visit our website for a printable PDF version of this schedule.

Sept 12 - 7 p.m. - "From Daguerreotype to Digital: Dating and Preserving Family Photographs" Genealogy Lecture - FREE at the Carriage House

Joan Hostetler of Heritage Photo and Research Services will discuss photographic processes and formats from the 1840s to the present, as well as clues for dating photos and techniques for preserving them. Bring your own family photos to learn more about them. Please RSVP.

Sept 21-22 - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. - History Beneath Us Archaeology - FREE on the Study grounds

Assist archaeologists from the University of Indianapolis as they continue excavations on Lew Wallace's reflecting pool. Join in the fun by digging and sifting for artifacts. Great for the family or scout troop!

Sept 29 - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - Smithsonian Museum Day Live - FREE with Smithsonian pass

Free admission to the Study with printed pass from Smithsonian Magazine. See the Smithsonian Magazine website for more information.

Oct 3 - 7 p.m. - "Writing Your Family History" Genealogy Lecture - FREE at the Carriage House

Ramon and Trisha Arredondo will speak about the process of writing their book Maria's Journey, a family story about immigration, the rise of the unions, the Great Depression, World War II, and more. Please RSVP.

Everyone Take a Deep Breath!

Now release it. Ahhhhhhhh!

The 7th Annual TASTE of Montgomery County is over, and we couldn't be more pleased by how everything came off. As many of you know, the TASTE is our biggest fundraiser of the year, providing funds for programming and exhibits. We also rely on the TASTE to raise awareness in the community about our museum and mission.

We had around 2100 people attend the TASTE this year. (Our musical performances contributed significantly to that number, since the Big Swing Band is so...well, big!) We had visitors from eleven counties inside Indiana, including quite a few from Marion and Tippecanoe, and 6 other states, including Texas, Utah, and South Carolina.

We had all kinds of great food, from American to Mexican to Greek, and lots of coffee and tea beverages, as well as more adult offerings like strawberry daiquiris, Lift Off IPA from Daredevil Brewing Company, and Coal Creek Winery wines.

Every year we do two sets of awards: Judges' Choice and People's Choice. This year our celebrity judges included Lauren Lowry from Indy's Channel 8 and her husband Blake Lewis, Crawfordsville Planning Director Brandy Allen, and Elizabeth Rentschler from Lafayette's NewsChannel 18.

Judges Choice
Best Entree - El Charro Taqueria
Best Dessert - Big Dipper
Best Booth Presentation - Bon Appetite

People's Choice
Best Entree - Juniper Spoon
Best Booth Presentation - Bon Appetite

Local musicians KSW@G were a great hit in our 1 - 3 p.m. slot. They were followed by the crowd-pleasing Big Swing Band from Lafayette from 4:30 - 6:30. Our evening act was The Michael Kelsey Group, featuring guest harmonica player L.D. Miller, and they brought down the house from 8-10.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year's TASTE of Montgomery County a great success!

TASTE 2013 Music

Can you believe it's August already? Where has the summer gone? The TASTE of Montgomery County is nearly here--and we have some fantastic music offerings this year!

Our opening act is a local favorite. KSW@G, featuring Stephanie Pool, Ken Lee, Wayne Lehr, and Chris "Gooch" Andel, will be performing from 1-3 p.m. With an act that includes hits from the 1950s to the present, they'll be sure to get your toes tapping.

A popular local act makes a return for the 4:30-6:30 p.m. time slot. The Big Swing Band from Lafayette will bring us swing and big band music, featuring vocalist Gail Biss. Bring your best dancing shoes and polish up your Lindy Hop and Jitterbug, because you'll want to get out and cut a rug!
The Big Swing Band performed at the 2009 TASTE of Montgomery County and were a real hit, so you won't want to miss it.

Playing from 8-10 p.m., our evening act is The Michael Kelsey Group out of Indianapolis. Michael Kelsey is a Lafayette native who has toured nationally with Blind Melon and Dishwalla and has opened for such acts as 38 Special and the Doobie Brothers. Though his main instrument is the guitar, Kelsey often reaches out to find improvisational instruments around him. As he experiments with sound and rhythm, his acoustic rock shows are always one of a kind. Check out his music and past performances at his website.

As hard as it is to believe, the TASTE is just over three weeks away. Don't miss your chance to enjoy an afternoon and evening of great music and delicious food. Advance tickets are already on sale at the Carriage House, Milligan's, and the Montgomery County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Advance tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for students. Stop in and pick them up this week!

Moat Garden Magic

Grounds Manager Deb King has been hard at work on recreating Lew's Moat Garden. After filling in the moat, he had a round garden, and we're lucky enough to have pictures of it. Take a look at the original and all the progress Deb has made this year!

Visitor Questions Answered

Sorry about the lack of posts here lately. We've had a slight time management problem...but it's a good kind! We've had so many visitors it's been hard to get blog posts written!

I'm going to do a quick round-up of a few visitor questions that I've had over the past several weeks. I wasn't able to answer the questions definitely at the time, so I told people to check our blog and I would post when I found out.

Where did Lew and Susan meet?

They met at a party at Susan's sister and brother-in-law's home, Lane Place. Of course, Lew had already had encounters with Susan's family--when he was a boy, he sneaked into the Elston homestead hoping for a glimpse of their piano!

Is that Lew's sink?


It is! We think he had the sink so accessible so he could clean his paintbrushes. (No, that isn't Lew's fire extinguisher.)

Is that a water pipe?

Yes! That is an oriental narghile, or water pipe, that Lew brought home from Constantinopole.  It's made of clear, blue glass with floral designs painted on it and a terra cotta top piece. The flowers appear to be burgundy hibiscus, yellow roses, and bittersweet. On one flower petal is the sultan's tughra in a circle, on the next flower petal is a gold oval with:  "B. Fucmez - Constantinople" around some Turkish writing.  Under this is a small circle with what may be "LEW" in it.

Ben-Hur Around the World

The Wallace name has spread far and wide and with it the name Ben-Hur. Schools, taverns, and businesses of all sorts have traded on the marketing juggernaut that was Ben-Hur in the late 19th century.  There are a handful of places around the world that also took these names in tribute and likely in hopes of trading on the famous names.

The small community of Wallace, Indiana, is located in southeast Fountain County. Established in the early 1830s, the village had a blacksmith, cabinet maker, general stores, shoemaker and two doctors. When the community received its first post office, local leaders named it after Lew's father, Governor David Wallace. In 1951, there were eight students in the high school graduating class and Wallace could boast about the same number of firms that had been in business in 1880. As of the 2010 census, there were 105 people spread among 52 households in Wallace. 

It is interesting, given Lew Wallace’s lack of enthusiasm for traditional learning, that at least two schools in Indiana adopted his name. Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana, has had an impressive history and continues to have an active alumni association. In Indianapolis, elementary school P.S. #107 is also named for Lew Wallace. At least one school in Albuquerque has also been named in honor of Lew Wallace, and New Mexico also has a Lew Wallace building as part of their State government complex. 

The name Ben-Hur saw greater utilization by people looking to identify their communities. Ben-Hur, California is an unincorporated community in Mariposa County. Again, a rural post office led to the naming of the community in the 1890s. The post office was closed in the 1950s, but the Ben-Hur name continues to be associated with the tiny settlement that remains. Ben-Hur in Lee County of western Virginia is another unincorporated settlement.

Yet another of the Ben-Hur communities is an unincorporated area in Limestone County, Texas. This town near Waco was originally named Cottonwood, but by 1895, there were three other communities in Texas named Cottonwood. The local residents decided to rename the town. At that time Ben-Hur, Texas, had a population of about 100. By World War II it had a thriving population of over 200, but today there are fewer than 100 people and a couple of closed businesses in Ben-Hur, Texas. 

Perhaps the most exotic of the Ben-Hur communities is a small settlement in the Kalahari Constituency of the Omaheke Region of Namibia on the border between Namibia and Botswana. Just how or why Ben-Hur was used to identify this settlement is not known.

Take a Walk in the Garden with Deb King

Grounds Manager Deb King invites you to visit us Sunday, July 14 at 6 p.m. for a Garden Tour.

Learn about her ongoing re-creation of the Moat Garden, the Montgomery County Community Foundation Going Green Grant she was awarded, and how she chooses what plants to grow here.


Discover plants such as ligularia, moonflower, celosia, and more. Come armed with questions. For a preview, check out Deb's 2013 Bloom Report and 2012 Bloom Report on our Facebook page.

Admission is $5. Some potted plants will be available in exchange for a donation to the garden fund.

Please RSVP or call 765-362-5769 to reserve a spot.

Museum Closed July 4th

Just a quick reminder that we are closed today. We'll be back tomorrow. Happy Independence Day!