Ballroom
The Ballroom was restored in 2015, find more information about the restoration process here.
Used for both social events as well as a men’s dormitory, this room was known as the ballroom. This room had some restoration work done in 2015 which included painting the walls yellow, painting the trim white, and filling an additional doorway.
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In the 1860’s when the tavern closed and got adapted into a family home, a wall was placed in the middle of this room in order to create two bedrooms. You can see the line where the wall stood underneath the table in the center of the room as well as along the right side of the mural. An additional doorway was added next to the attic door to allow access to this room through the hallway, but it has since been restored to its original state.
Mural
This mural is an eye-drawing factor in this room, creating spectacle within the ballroom. It has been too difficult to place the location painted here but many believe it to be a depiction of Switzerland as that is where the Fryfogel family originated from. While the artist is unknown, it is believed that the same artist completed the other mural in the Ballroom as well as the marbling on the walls and the imitation wainscoting in other rooms. Sadly, a pot belly stove was installed in the late 1930’s on the wallpaper that would have covered the mural. Not knowing a mural sat underneath, the installation damaged sections of the piece.
Martha's Poem
It reads:
O Lord, girls you here talk of Stefen
Stefen Do Duefen (you devil)
And the devil won’t believe him
Stefen promised to buy the girl a bonnet
And he never done it
This poem, written on the west wall of the ballroom, is believed to be written by Sebastian Fryfogel’s daughter Martha. She speaks of a Stefen that never bought her a bonnet when he promised he would.
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Later on Martha Fryfogel married Stefen Capling, which we believe to be the Stefen spoken of in the poem.