Join Mabry-Hazen House for Rated R for Risqué: Courtship, Romance, and Intimacy in the Hazen Household to learn about the act and attitudes around love at the historic house museum.
A heart doesn't play by rules, but romantic love has its own rules and demands! The who, what, when, and how are molded by the context and complexities of time and place and are always subject to change.
This unique tour of Mabry-Hazen House covers the stories of three generations of women, exploring the romantic conventions and challenges of falling in love at the turn of the 20th century. Learn how each generation thought about romance -- the good and the bad -- and how it changed across the decades.
Beginning with the courtship of Alice and Rush Hazen, visitors will learn how Victorian romantic conventions evolved into the more familiar ideas of dating in the age of Gibson Girls and Flappers. The story of Evelyn Hazen's ill-fated fifteen-year engagement to Ralph Scharringhaus and subsequent "heartbalm" lawsuit will offer visitors an intimate glimpse into the thoughts and actions of a couple falling in and out of love during the Jazz Age.
With much of the original furniture and decor owned by the family on display, visitors will stand next to exactly where romantic interactions and exchanges occurred, see books and artifacts that taught and helped the Hazen women be "good ladies," and hear their own words about their experiences courting, dating, and loving another person.
Visitors must be 18 or older, or 16 or older accompanied by a parent or guardian older than 21.
This program will discuss topics such as sexual trauma and harassment and could be triggering for those sensitive to such issues.
Wine and light refreshments will be available. Space is limited to eighteen visitors. The tour will run for approximately 75 minutes.
The Mabry-Hazen House Museum, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located atop Mabry's Hill in Knoxville, Tennessee. Built in 1858, three generations of the same family resided in the Italianate-style home overlooking downtown Knoxville, the Tennessee River, and Great Smoky Mountains. Furnished and decorated in the style of several decades, Mabry-Hazen gives a rare view into 130 years of Knoxville history. The museum showcases one of the largest original family collections in America with over 2,500 original artifacts on display. Learn about the origins of Knoxville's iconic Market Square, the bitter divisions of the Civil War, the infamous 1882 Gunfight on Gay Street, a mountain city in the New South, the scandalous 1934 breach of promise and seduction trial, and much more through the rich, colorful lives of the Mabry and Hazen families.
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