Peirce Mansion Mysteries

It was a tradition of the old mansions to build mysteries into them or so we say looking back.  I can't help but wonder "why" - - -


End of the Ballroom

 These two doors at both ends of the ballroom have a window on the same side that does not open.  It would be built in the same way that a stain glass window is build in but it is a normal window with a decorative opaque glass.  Above the doors are air vents that can be cracked open.  One opens up to a closet and the other opens up to the top of the stairwell. 


Other End of the Ballroom

 At the top of the stairwell on the opposite wall is a double-fake window.  It is painfully obvious that these windows were never designed to open.  So why put them in?


Stairway up to the ballroom

 On the other side of the double windows was a small room that had a trap door for the "servants to go up to their rooms without using the main house. 


The other side of the window in the stairwell

The photo below shows that during large parties a long, narrow table was brought in for the servants to monitor and serve the visitors.  The table was pushed up against a decorative railing leaving barely enough space for the visitors to walk in for refreshments.


Serving time for the ball

The railing in the picture above was almost even with the extended wall .  The two doors are doors to two of the servants rooms.  Notice one of them also has the upper vent.  (Harold told me that the cardboard cutout was Wal-Mart's first greeter.) LOL 

Serving room for the ball from the other side.

 See the greeter?  The new door in the picture is the third servant bedroom.  They were just that a bedroom.  They would have been able to fit a small twin bed, Maybe a small dresser with a water basin on top. No closets. 


The servants quarters

 In the back of the house was a very steep stairwell hidden in a wall.  At the top of the stairs was a trap door that the servants could come up to get to their rooms.  With the proximity to the serving area, I can't help but wonder if a curtain wasn't hung on the other side of the "railing" hiding the servants coming up and down the back entrance with food for the party goers.


Servant's secret entrance

I've never seen a trap door on the third floor.  This is more normal for the first floor as an entrance to a basement or some secret tunnel as seen in Europe for WWII.