The Ladies Parlor

This is the “Parlor”, the more formal of the two front rooms.

(Point out William Petry’s and Mollie Hyatt Petry’s pictures.)

William Petry emigrated from Bavaria with his family to Apalachicola, Florida in about 1840 when he would have been four years old. He served as First Corporal in the First Florida Infantry of the Confederate States Army. After the war he moved up the Chattahoochee River to Eufaula, settling here in 1866. He became a successful book dealer and real estate developer.

William Petry made the decorative wooden fan-screen in the bay window. He also made the decorative screen in the back of the downstairs hall. His daughter, Lottie Petry, related how he soaked the wooden strips in the bathtub to make them pliable so he could weave them into the screen. He planned to make a similar screen for the bay window in the sitting room, but he died before he could make it.

Mollie’s ancestors were some of the very earliest pioneers in Barbour County. Her great-grandfather settled in the county in 1818, the year before Alabama became a state. He served on the first county commission. Mollie’s grandfather became the first sheriff of Barbour County.

The last major Indian battle in this part of Alabama “the Battle of Hobdy Bridge” was fought on the Hobdy’s plantation in 1836 in the southwest part of Barbour County.

The Lanier Club, one of Eufaula’s literary clubs, held its organizational meeting in this room on November 5, 1899. “Miss Natalie” Petry Stewart was one of the twelve founders of the club. Her daughter “Miss Nattee” Honan, who is 91 years old, is the most senior member of the club. The Lanier Club still holds its anniversary meeting in this room every November.

(Point out the photo of Miss Nattee at the Lanier Club’s 100th anniversary.)