Old Town Pensacola, Florida

Window in Old Christ Church

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Death and Mourning Tour Guide in old town Pensacola.  She is pointing out the hair wreath on the wall.

This bread safe was suspended from the ceiling in the kitchen and kept the bread safe from vermin.

I got off the plane in Pensacola, Florida prepared to throw off my fleece jacket and lift my chin in the warm gulf breezes.  I pulled my suitcase outside and - hello - zipped my fleece jacket up to my chin and waited in the sunshine because the shade was too cold.  Lucky for me things warmed up after that.  We visited old town Pensacola.  We saw homes of the working class and the upper middle class.  They explained how Pensacola is the oldest European settlement in the United States.  St. Augustine, also in Florida, is the oldest continuous settlement.  One of those August hurricanes destroyed Pensacola and it went uninhabited for a few years.  Over time the city has flown under five flags - Spanish, French, British, US, and confederate.  We went on a Halloween related mourning tour.  Our tour guide wore black over her bustle.  A black wreath on the door of a house indicated a family death.  The mirrors were covered with black cloth so the soul of the departed would not be trapped in the mirror and not make it to the correct destination. According to our tour guide, people followed the example of Queen Victoria.  She lost her husband and wore black for the last 40+ years of her life.  And she made all her servants wear black too.  Women of this time were expected to wear black for 2.5 years if their parent, sibling or husband died.  In public they had to wear a black veil over their face.  They could attend no social events outside of their home or risk public shunning or giving the perception they didn't love their parent/sibling/husband very much.  Men wore black for a few days but had to get back into daily life to support the family.  People kept snippets of hair of the deceased to remember them and made the hair into ornamental wreaths, brooches and watch straps.  I left feeling grateful to be born in later times.