TOURS || BOWMAN FAMILY NEMACOLIN CASTLE, BROWNSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 2016

Christmas decorations fill the primitive and fancy rooms of the Nemacolin Castle, once built and occupied by Jacob and Isabella Bowman and their nine children. The castle started out as a small trading post in the mid to late 1780's. Bowman was appointed postmaster by George Washington. 

No matter how many times I visit the castle year after year I am left with a feeling that I REALLY need to go back in time to see what day-to-day life was like for the Bowman family, and their son and grandson who later inherited the castle home.  The conversations, the attire, the celebrations, the food preparation, landscape, and even the politics of the time would likely not have intrigued me as much as they do now. I guess that's what makes history lovers history lovers, we are more intrigued by the past than we are with the present.

The castle has many of the original furnishings that belonged to the Bowman family. And from one room to the next you can see the changes made as the family acquired  more wealth, going from the simplicity of colonial style to the more fancy Victorian style. 

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I can't help but wonder what Jacob and his wife Isabella would think of additions that were later added by their son Nelson, and his wife Elizabeth. Nelson added the east wing and the tower. And I am only guessing here that it was Elizabeth who had changed the style of the rooms from Colonial to Victorian, because today it's often the women who decorate.

The closer I was to the end of the tour the more I felt a bit of of melancholy that I would be leaving. The spirit of Christmas was overflowing; the feeling of  another time period was soul enriching. My heart yearned to be more in the period, however, the rational part of my mind said "No, it is not possible."

There are other tours at Nemacolin Castle when the castle is not decorated for the holiday, and when more of the focus seems to be the architecture. And there are fall ghost tours, summer tours, and celebrations during the National Road Pike festival the 3rd weekend of May every year.

I do hope you take the time to visit this majestic castle that overlooks the Monongahela River. There's always an appreciation and respect one is left with both of yesterday and today (we are tomorrow's history, after all). It's important to preserve what we can of any period of time. And I thank those who continue to put their time and effort into keeping this place a beacon of beauty for all to visit. 

I am not a history expert, only a history explorer. If anything posted her is found to be incorrect, I would appreciate your bringing it to my attention so I may correct it. I try to only post what I know to be true.

Thanks for visiting!