Period costumes encouraged for ball
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The event will be held at McMinnville Civic Center. The doors will open at 6 p.m. for pictures, for those who want a memento of the event, and the ball will be in full swing from 7 to 10 p.m.
Tickets are $12.50 each and are currently available at the following locations:
‘ Office of County Executive John Pelham
‘ Chamber of Commerce
‘ McMinnville Civic Center
‘ Magness Library
According to publicity committee members Shane Brock and Debby Boyd, period costumes are optional, but attendees are encouraged to dress for the occasion. Live period music will be provided by the 52nd Regimental String Band.
The formal ball is being held in honor of Lucy Virginia French, a noted poet and writer. According to biographical information on the Web site, Lucy Virginia French (1825-1881), who also penned under the name of L’ Inconnue, was a writer, poet and magazine editor of the Old South. Reared in Virginia and Pennsylvania, she met Col. John Hopkins French at a book store in Memphis, later moving to McMinnville after a whirlwind romance. Settling at the French Plantation, Forest Home, L. Virginia and the Colonel became pillars of Warren County society as they lavishly entertained local folk as well as visiting dignitaries.
Writing for several popular magazines, Mrs. French was famous across the south and recognized in national literary circles. A Unionist at heart when the Civil War erupted in 1861, she was supportive of the Confederacy and “refugeed” at nearby Beersheba Springs, where much of her famous diaries were written. That journal remains as a chronicle of the life in McMinnville during the Federal and Confederate occupations of the city.
After the war, French continued to write and publish until her death in 1881. She is buried in Riverside Cemetery in McMinnville. A Tennessee Historical Marker is now located at the sight of the Forest Home on Main Street here in the city.
Those interested in the L. Virginia French Ball, as well as other upcoming Bicentennial events, can visit the official Warren County Bicentennial Web site at www.warrentn200.com.