Wednesday, March 18, 2015

J is for The JEWELER'S House

 The walls of this 1837 home in Old Town have quite a story to tell!

During the War Between the States, its owner, S.F. Hobbs,
 owned a JEWELRY store in downtown Selma.

 A native of Maine, he became southern after he moved South
 and served in the Confederate Army in opposition to his six northern brothers.
 When Union troops moved toward Selma in the spring of 1865,
 his wife (a true Southern Belle) hid the jewelry store silver inside the walls
 of their home and sewed the fine JEWELRY into her petticoat. 

Then when the Yankees knocked on her door, she kindly offered them
 pieces of costume jewelry to take home to their sweethearts,
 thus saving the silver and the jewels. 

There is more to the story, and perhaps you will hear it 
at the Selma Pilgrimage's Evening Tour and Reception
 this Friday, March 20  from 6:30-8 p.m.

Linking to ABC Wednesday
where the Letter of the Week is J


4 comments:

William Kendall said...

A lovely place. For Mr. Hobbs, it really was a Brother's War.

Anonymous said...

would a jeweller keep any precious stones in his house.

Janet said...

Ann nz, In this case, the wife took the jewels from the store to prevent the Yankees from stealing them. The Union soldiers destroyed much of town after the Battle of Selma. Thanks for asking!

Roger Owen Green said...

I do know that brother often did fight brother during the war.

ROG, ABCW