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Page 32 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 28, 1986
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Hanuka to be celebrated in historic Norfolk home
The dining room of the Moses Myers House ready for Hanuka with menora in background.
Norfolk’s 194-year-old Moses
Mvers House will serve as host
for the Jewish Festival of Lights
in December with displays and
festivities reminiscent of the
city’s beginnings. /
Admission to the home, which
was built in 1792 by Norfolk's
first permanent Jewish settler,
will be waived during the Han
uka and Christmas seasons.
Throughout the holiday sea
son, cranberries, nuts, vegetables,
fresh brown eggs, and potatoes
will adorn the trestle table in the
dining room—considered among
the most beautiful in the South.
Fragrant magnolia, boxwood and
garden herbs will be among the
trimmings.
On Dec. 14 and 21, visitors
who arrive between 5 and 7 p.m.
will be treated to holiday candle
light tours. Traditional 18th-cen
tury refreshments will be served.
An exquisite brass menora will
be lighted for Hanuka.
The Moses Myers House is
one of Norfolk’s finest examples
of Georgian architecture. The
bricks used in its exterior were
said to have been ballast for a
British ship voyaging to the
American colonies. Its elegant
rooms are furnished with period
pieces, including 70 percent of
the family’s original furnishings.
A New York native of Dutch
descent, Myers arrived in Nor
folk in 1787 with his Canadian-
born wife, Eliza. Myers’ success
as a ship owner,-merchant, and
foreign trader produced one of
the city’s wealthiest families.
Active in his community, Myers
served as president of city coun
cil, a major in the Virginia mil
itia, consul for foreign govern
ments, manager of the 1817-18
Assembly Ball and superintend
ent of the Bank of Richmond. In
1828 he was appointed collector
of customs by John Quincy
Adams.
According to historical ac
counts, Myers was widely noted
for his home and hospitality; his
guests included President James
Monroe, the Marquis de Lafay
ette, Daniel Webster, Stephen
Decatur and Henry Clay.
Peter Steward and Thomas
Costa, co-authors of a recent
biography entitled “The Life and
Legacy of Moses Myers: Mer
chant of Norfolk, Virginia,” said
that the Myers family marked
both the Jewish and Christian
holidays. Many* family friends
were of the Episcopal and Pres
byterian faiths.
Owned by the city of Norfolk
and operated by the Chrysler
Museum, the house stands as a
reflection of Myers’ fruitful life.
High ceilings feature decora
tive plaster in low relief with deep
frieze and cornice. Doors incor
porate brass rim locks with iron
keys, drop-ring handles and self
closing hinges. Floors are of
four-inch boards of native heart
pine. An adjacent garden was
once framed by a colonial fence
of brick and wrought iron.
The home was expanded by
Myers from eight rooms to 15, as
the couple were the parents of 12
children, nine of whom survived
infancy.
Family members were well-
versed in music; their spinet re
mains in the parlor. Some 900
pieces of original music were dis
covered several years ago in one
of the home’s storage rooms. In
the second floor hall is a wooden
instrument for playing glasses by
wetting the fingers and rubbing
them over the rims.
Also on the second floor are a
heavy iron box, which Myers
had anchored to the floor with a
thick iron chain, and dueling pis
tols which historians believe were
used in the duel between Barron
and Decatur.
Furnishings include Duncan
Phyfe tables, Hepplewhite chairs
and pieces by Chippendale and
Thomas Sheraton. Family glass
and silver are displayed in the
dining room.
Gilbert Stuart portraits of Mr.
and Mrs. Myers hang in the din
ing room and a Thomas Sully
portrait of eldest son, John, ac
cents the parlor.
Myers was one of many mer
chants whose fortunes rose and
fell with Norfolk’s prosperity fol
lowing the Revolutionary War.
Prior to his appointment as col
lector of customs, Myers was
forced into bankruptcy as the
Embargo Act of 1807 limited the
finances of those who owed him
debts.
Five generations of the Myers
family resided in the home until
it was sold in the 1930s. It is open
to visitors from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.
Tuesdays through Sundays. Ad
mission outside of the holiday
season is $2 for adults and $1 for
students.
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