The Dining Room

      The woodwork in this room was originally the dark pine seen throughout the house.  It was painted sometime after 1950 to “lighten up” the room.  Had a Victorian family painted it, a brightly colored paint would have been used to accent the wall coverings as well as to advertise the wealth of the family.  The paper on the ceiling is a good example of conspicuous spending.  It would not have been out of the ordinary for a room to sport several different patterns of paper.

     This room once had a bell in the floor that could be pressed to summon servants from the Brick Kitchen to serve the table. Mr. Fauntleroy purportedly liked to play tricks on his guests using prearranged signals to summon a food so that it would show up as soon as he mentioned a need for it. It was said that no one outside of the household figured out his secret.

     Afternoon tea was often served in this room. Gladys Fauntleroy Winston served neighborhood children orange juice instead. Refreshments were an integral part of any visit.

     Although the house was built with running water and wired for electricity, Altavista did not have electricity at that time.  It would be 12 years before electricity was available in Altavista.  According to family history once electricity was available the house was simply connected and everything worked.

     The house did not originally have an inside kitchen. This is due to the burning of the first two homes. The brick kitchen was used until a modern kitchen was added circa 1930.