4. Formal Parlors
First Floor
Double parlors: The most ornate rooms in the home were used for entertaining. This room boasts the only real marble mantels in the home, elaborate and original gasoliers as well as wall-to-wall carpets—all symbols of great wealth in the 1860s. The paintings in the south parlor are originals and reproductions of works painted by the Bellamys oldest child, Belle. This room was where General Hawley hosted Union officers like William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant during occupation of the home. The stains on the mantel in the north parlor are supposedly from the cigars and pipes of the occupying Union troops. The ornate plasterwork was crafted by enslaved plasterers like William B. Gould who Dr. John Bellamy hired out.
Double parlors: The most ornate rooms in the home were used for entertaining. This room boasts the only real marble mantels in the home, elaborate and original gasoliers as well as wall-to-wall carpets—all symbols of great wealth in the 1860s. The paintings in the south parlor are originals and reproductions of works painted by the Bellamys oldest child, Belle. This room was where General Hawley hosted Union officers like William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant during occupation of the home. The stains on the mantel in the north parlor are supposedly from the cigars and pipes of the occupying Union troops. The ornate plasterwork was crafted by enslaved plasterers like William B. Gould who Dr. John Bellamy hired out.
