Attmore Oliver House is a great venue for your next event.
Click here for Rental Information
Saturdays through October, 2007. 1:00 -4:00 p.m.. Cost: Adults -$4; students - free.
With six beautifully
furnished rooms and a Civil War Museum, the Attmore-Oliver Civil War
House Museum is open to the public for guided tours from April thru
October. Original Attmore family furnishings, exquisite silver pieces
and authentic Civil War artifacts bring this house museum to life
returning you to the days of New Bern’s southern history.
History
of the Attmore-Oliver Family
Built in 1790 by prominent New Bernian Samuel Chapman, the Attmore-Oliver House was enlarged to its present size in 1834. Furnished with 18th and 19th century antiques, the House is available to the public for rent and can be used for a variety of occasions. With its wide porches and lovely grounds, the historic home enhances social events such as weddings, parties, receptions, and business meetings. Ample parking space and kitchen facilities are included with the House.
The clouds of war
gathered around New Bern and three of Hannah’s brothers enlisted in the
Confederate Army. Both her oldest brother, Sitgreaves Attmore, and her
middle
brother, Isaac Taylor
Attmore, died while in Confederate
service. The youngest Attmore boy, George, was only 13 when the war
began. He was wounded while serving in the Confederate Army but
survived. The house too survived the burdens of the war bearing witness
to another generation of the Attmore-Oliver family.
Hannah survived the
desperate times of the Civil War but poverty beset her and most
everybody else in New Bern during the long reconstruction period. One
can learn the tale of Hannah and her vivacious daughter in the
inspiring story of "poor little Sunshine, mama gave her away" while
strolling through the children’s room in the Attmore-Oliver House.
Hannah died in 1881,
leaving the home to her three daughters. It was during this period that
William Oliver, living with his children, began selling insurance, his
profession at the time of his death in 1908.
His daughter, Mary
Taylor Oliver, eventually became the sole owner of the house. She ran
her insurance business from her home and continued to live in the house
until her death at the age 91 in 1945. It was from her four nephews
that the New Bern Historical Society purchased the house in 1954 for
$30,000.
The house was
furnished by the Society in the early 1950’s. A few Attmore and Oliver
family pieces have been returned to the property. Furniture of the
Federal, Empire and Victorian eras are used throughout the house.
Because the house is frequently used for Society functions, the
Attmore-Oliver house is not strictly a museum house.
It affords visitors
the rare opportunity to see a home lived in by just two New Bern
families throughout most of the nineteenth century and half of the
twentieth.
The Attmore-Oliver House is now open
on Saturdays through October, 2007. It opens at 1:00 and the last guided tour is at 4:00. Cost is $4 for adults; students are free.
- All Donations are
appreciated
- Contact the New Bern
Historical Societyfor
more information
(252) 638-8558
P.O. Box
119, New Bern, N.C. 28563 nbhistoricalsoc@yahoo.com
The
Attmore-Oliver Historic House Museum is located in the heart of New
Bern’s Historic District,
two blocks east of Tryon Palace and one block from the downtown
shopping area.
Entrance:
510 Pollock Street
