Ladies and Gentlemen on Display: Planter Society at the Virginia Springs, 1790 - 1860 (The American South Series)

Each summer between 1790 and 1860, hundreds and eventually thousands of southern men and women left the diseases and boredom of their plantation homes and journeyed to the healthful and entertaining Virginia Springs. While some came in search of a cure, most traveled over the mountains to enjoy the fashionable society and participate in an array of social activities. At the springs, visitors, as well as their slaves, interacted with one another and engaged in behavior quite different from the picture presented by most historians. In the leisurely and pleasure-filled environment of the springs, plantation society's hierarchies became at once more relaxed and more contested; its rituals and rules sometimes changed and reformed; and its gender divisions often softened and blurred.In Ladies and Gentlemen on Display, Charlene Boyer Lewis argues that the Virginia Springs provided a theater of sorts, where contests for power between men and women, fashionables and evangelicals, blacks and whites, old and young, and even northerners and southerners played out -- away from the traditional roles of the plantation. In their pursuit of health and pleasure, white southerners created a truly regional community at the springs. At this edge of the South, elite southern society shaped itself, defining what it meant to be a "Southerner" and redefining social roles and relations.

Each summer between 1790 and 1860, hundreds and eventually thousands of southern men and women left the diseases and boredom of their plantation homes and journeyed to the healthful and entertaining Virginia Springs. While some came in search of a cure, most traveled over the mountains to enjoy the fashionable society and participate in an array of social activities.

At the springs, visitors, as well as their slaves, interacted with one another and engaged in behavior quite different from the picture presented by most historians. In the leisurely and pleasure-filled environment of the springs, plantation society's hierarchies became at once more relaxed and more contested; its rituals and rules sometimes changed and reformed; and its gender divisions often softened and blurred.

In Ladies and Gentlemen on Display, Charlene Boyer Lewis argues that the Virginia Springs provided a theater of sorts, where contests for power between men and women, fashionables and evangelicals, blacks and whites, old and young, and even northerners and southerners played out—away from the traditional roles of the plantation. In their pursuit of health and pleasure, white southerners created a truly regional community at the springs. At this edge of the South, elite southern society shaped itself, defining what it meant to be a "Southerner" and redefining social roles and relations.

University of Virginia Press

Annotation Each summer between 1790 and 1860, hundreds and eventually thousands of southern men and women left the diseases and boredom of their plantation homes and journeyed to the healthful and entertaining Virginia Springs. While some came in search of a cure, most traveled over the mountains to enjoy the fashionable society and participate in an array of social activities. At the springs, visitors, as well as their slaves, interacted with one another and engaged in behavior quite different from the picture presented by most historians. In the leisurely and pleasure-filled environment of the springs, plantation society's hierarchies became at once more relaxed and more contested; its rituals and rules sometimes changed and reformed; and its gender divisions often softened and blurred. In Ladies and Gentlemen on Display, Charlene Boyer Lewis argues that the Virginia Springs provided a theater of sorts, where contests for power between men and women, fashionables and evangelicals, blacks and whites, old and young, and even northerners and southerners played out -- away from the traditional roles of the plantation. In their pursuit of health and pleasure, white southerners created a truly regional community at the springs. At this edge of the South, elite southern society shaped itself, defining what it meant to be a "Southerner" and redefining social roles and relations. Contents......Page 8 Illustrations......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 part 1 The Scene......Page 24 "Solidity, Strength, and Grandeur"......Page 27 "A Country More Wildly Picturesque"......Page 42 "At Great Trouble and Expense"......Page 47 "Bribe High and You Live High"......Page 60 part 2 Healing Waters......Page 68 "King Cure All"......Page 70 "They All Drink the Waters without the Advice of Any Medical......Page 79 "Every Day Var[ies] a Little"......Page 89 "The Most Delicious Sensations"......Page 96 part 3 Community and Competition......Page 110 "A Never Ceasing Scene of Stir, Animation, Display, & Enjoym......Page 115 "Forming Violent Friendships in Three Days Time"......Page 130 "You Might Have Supposed Them All Quite Intimate"......Page 138 "You Are Now Just Entering upon That School of Life"......Page 153 "A Great Deal Is Affected, but Nothing on the Heart in It"......Page 163 "Love-Making May Fairly Be Set Down as One of the Amusements......Page 186 "They Seemed to Sink into the Deepest Insignificance"......Page 198 "Honor to Those Days of Chivalry"......Page 211 Conclusion......Page 220 Notes......Page 226 Works Cited......Page 276 Index......Page 296 Each summer between 1790 and 1860, hundreds and eventually thousands of southern men and women left the diseases and boredom of their plantation homes and journeyed to the healthful and entertaining Virginia Springs. At the springs, visitors, as well as their slaves, interacted with one another and engaged in behavior quite different from the picture presented by most historians. In this book, Charlene Boyer Lewis argues that the Virginia Springs provided a theater of sorts, where contests for power between men and women, fashionables and evangelicals, blacks and whites, old and young, and even northerners and southerners played out away from the traditional roles of the plantation. In their pursuit of health and pleasure, white southerners created a truly regional community at the springs. At this edge of the South, elite southern society shaped itself, defining what it meant to be a "Southerner" and redefining social roles and relations Each summer from 1790-1860, hundreds and eventually thousands of men and women left the boredom of their plantation homes and journeyed to the healthful Virginia Springs. This work states that Virginia Springs enabled men and women to play roles opposite to those associated with the plantation.