Körner’s Folly

06/09/2023

As a first-time visitor, you may never know what's behind the door at Körner's Folly! It might be an elegant sitting room, the setting for a theatrical production, or a cozy children's playroom! 🤔

As a returning visitor, you may notice a detail you've never seen before! We invite all to come explore all the amazing nooks and crannies of "Reuben Rink's Odd House!"

Self-guided tours available Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 am to 4 pm, with the last entry at 3 pm. Tickets are available online at kornersfolly.org and onsite inside Aunt Dealy's House (cards only at this time).

06/08/2023

Ahh, the glamour of travel in days gone by! 🕶⛴🧳🚆🌏✨

Please enjoy these luggage tags from Doré Körner Donnell's trips around the world. Attached to her trunks for hotel or transportation delivery, these tags are also profoundly beautiful in their own right!

From the Körner's Folly collection, generously donated by Pamela Lanier Wolfe Browne. 🙌

06/07/2023

Gather up the family and plan a wonderful day in Kernersville next Saturday, June 17!
🏸🎨🌳🔍🍧

We'll be hosting our annual Family Fun Day at Körner's Folly from 10 am - 4 pm, featuring activities for all ages. Enjoy historic yard games, sand archaeology, classic games and toys, explore the historic house with a Körner family-focused scavenger hunt, and create your own family tree at the art table! Chill Billy’s will be on site to help cool you off with Hawaiian shaved ice treats!

Registration available at https://kornersfolly.org/events/family-fun-day-2/!

After (or before!) touring the Folly, make sure to check out the other AWESOME programs happening around town for

🐝 June is Pollinator Month at Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden! Learn more with a family-friendly guided tour at 9 am, and a digital scavenger hunt available all day! Garden is open dawn to dusk. Tour Admission - $10 Adult / $5 18 & Under / $7 PJCBG Members. Advance registration required for tour. Regular Garden admission is free.

🖼 The Kernersville Museum is bringing back their Children's Chalk Museum activity from 10 am - 2 pm! Discover the museum's Historic Village and create a masterpiece for the community to enjoy while you're there!

🚘 Zoom on over to the Kernersville Auto Museum from 10 am - 4 pm to stroll through 100+ years of automotive history and incredible vintage and classic cars. Museum admission is free but donations are encouraged.

🎉 Celebrate at Harmon Park, 10 am - 2 pm for a festival featuring music, food, activities for kids, and more. The first 100 guests will receive a FREE Juneteenth t-shirt!

06/06/2023

It's time for a post! Check out this restoration work on the Main Kitchen, completed in 2016 (image of restored room below). 🤩🥧

This room was not the original kitchen of the home but was added in the first major Körner family renovation of 1890 (the original kitchen was located where the Smoking Room is now). The Main Kitchen was designed to reflect the modernization in cooking that occurred during the Industrial Revolution but was decorated in the style of the “Brown Decades,” when interior design rebelled against modernity and sought color palette inspiration from the natural world.

Jule also included ventilation for the kitchen on the ceiling with a trap door, as well as one above the cabinet, which allowed heat to escape upstairs to warm the Bathing Room. The flour safe, built-in cabinets, stove, sink, external pie safe, and marble-topped workstation are all original to this room.

Over the years, the kitchen has been painted several times over, in many different colors. In 2016, all trim, cabinets, icebox, and plaster work were painted a deep brown paired with a "frog green" American Encaustic tile and rich red wall color. What an amazing transformation!

06/03/2023

Thank goodness for sunny days! And original American Encaustic tile! 🌞

Did you know that all 15 fireplaces inside Körner's Folly feature original tilework from this famous company? American Encaustic Tiling was founded in New York, New York, in 1875. In 1892, the founders Benedickt Fischer and George Lansing established a factory in Zanesville Ohio, to compete with decorative tiles imported from England, which were more expensive.

The very first glazed tiles made by American Encaustic were released in 1880, the year that Körner's Folly was completed, making Jule Körner one of the earliest adopters of these incredibly detailed pieces for architecture, fireplaces, and more!

06/02/2023

Have you heard the news? 📯💐🏆
Our Victorian Parlor Series: Folly Flower Show returns this July in collaboration with the Kernersville Garden Club!

Volunteer designers are dreaming up Victorian-inspired floral arrangements for each of the home's 22 rooms - come enjoy the most beautiful blooms and flora-focused tidbits of Victorian history, society, and culture along the way! 🌺

Vote for your favorite designs, and make sure to stick around for the KGC's awards presentation on the South Porch following your tour! Light refreshments will be served. 🍰🍹

Register now at the link below to secure your spot - space is limited for this program that was first held at the Folly in the 1970s!
https://kornersfolly.org/events/victorian-parlor-series-folly-flower-show/

06/01/2023

Saturday, June 17 will be a busy day in Kernersville! Don't miss this chance to learn more about , a holiday to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.

The holiday was first celebrated on June 19th in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Join us anytime between 10am-2pm on June 17th for our Juneteenth celebration at Harmon Park! We will have music, food, kids activities & more. The first 100 guest will receive a FREE Juneteenth t-shirt! We hope to see you there!

06/01/2023

It's strawberry season! What's your favorite way to enjoy these spring fruits? We can recommend the following recipe from The Körner's Folly Cookbook if you've got a gracious plenty sitting around!

SALPICON of STRAWBERRIES & PINEAPPLE 🍍🍓🍍
Cut off the top of a pineapple and pare away the bottom so that it will stand upright and firm. Scoop out the pulp, discard the core, mix the pulp with strawberries cut in half, the juice of an orange, and sugar to taste. Return the mixture to the pineapple shell and chill thoroughly.

What is a salpicon, you might ask? The name is derived from Spanish for "hodgepodge" or "medley", usually containing ingredients that are minced and bound with a sauce or liquid. Let us know if you try this refreshing dish!

05/30/2023

Want to enjoy some quality time with dear old Dad on Father's Day Weekend? We've got the perfect gift idea for you - snag some tickets to our Family Fun Day at Körner's Folly on Saturday, June 17!
🏸🖍✂️🎨🧩🔍🍧😎
We'll have classic toys and puzzles, historic yard games, sand archaeology, a Körner family scavenger hunt, and a family tree collage activity (bring your old family photos to make a craft that's sure to melt Dad's heart)! Chill Billy’s will also be onsite with their delicious Hawaiian shaved ice treats!

Advance tickets available online at https://kornersfolly.org/events/family-fun-day-2/
Tickets also available onsite, 10 am - 3 pm, inside Aunt Dealy's House (cards only at this time).

Look forward to seeing the whole fam there!

05/28/2023

The Körner’s Folly office will be closed tomorrow in observance of Memorial Day. We will reopen to the public for self-guided tours on Tuesday, May 30.

Did you know that Memorial Day began a few years after the Civil War, in 1868? An organization of Union veterans established the holiday, then known as Decoration Day, as a time to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. From then until the present day, the solemn holiday has been formally observed at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

05/27/2023

Historic Körner's Folly is a fantastic destination for your group! Whether you're looking for a "mystery trip" activity, a day out with friends, or a fun field trip for kids, we will be thrilled to book your party for a guided tour of all 22 rooms of Jule Körner's eclectic Victorian home, filled with fascinating furnishings, beautiful decoration, and friendly docents to answer any and all questions!

To book a guided tour, email [email protected] and get on our calendar!

05/26/2023

So much rain in the forecast for this weekend! 🌧😢
If you're looking for an indoor activity, we'll be open tomorrow, Saturday May 27, for self-guided adventures galore from 10 am - 4 pm!

Come frolic through the Folly and stay dry, but don't forget your Victorian-era Umbrella Etiquette! 😉 🌂

https://www.geriwalton.com/umbrella-etiquette-and-manners/

Image: "A High Wind in the Park", Courtesy Library of Congress

05/26/2023

We'd like to wrap up National Historic Preservation Month with a huge thanks to all who have supported our efforts to restore and preserve Körner's Folly for the education and enjoyment of the public - it is our mission as a nonprofit organization, and we love doing it!

Special thanks also to our local preservationists, the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission, Preservation Forsyth, and the Kernersville Historic Preservation Society , for all the work that you all do to preserve history and provide connections to our past and future!

Our hats are also off to the many people who have worked on, cleaned, fixed up, and shared the story of Körner's Folly over its 143 years!

Featured images in honor of :

1. An image of a brief that appeared in a local newspaper in 1940, announcing that the Junior Woman's Club of Kernersville, in response to the "keen interest" of the public, opened Körner's Folly to the public for special tours.

2. An image of a promotional postcard of Körner's Folly, ca. 1916 that reads "National Highway, New York to New Orleans."

3. An image of what may be the very first Körner's Folly admission sign (How times have changed)!

05/25/2023

This time of year, we can recommend visiting Körner's Folly for the smell alone! Our magnolia features full blooms, which have been described as "a sweet floral punch like a rose, with a citrusy lemon edge and a slightly earthy undertone."

Staying in North Carolina over the holiday weekend? Plan your visit to the eclectic home of Jule Körner and his family for a self-guided adventure, and don't forget to stop by Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, our neighbors in downtown Kernersville, for additional olfactory delights! 👃

Garden admission is free with a suggested donation of $4 for Adults.

Tickets to tour Körner's Folly are available online at kornersfolly.org, or onsite inside Aunt Dealy's House (cards only at this time).

05/24/2023

One of the things we notice when working with the objects in our collection is how small things were around 1900 - not only shoes, trousers, and corsets, but print publications, too!

Exhibit A: An illustrated copy of "The Footsteps of Burns: From Doonside to Dumfries" written by William Henry Oliphant Smeaton, published by Thistle Press. This tiny (3 inch by 2.5 inch) tome traces the life of Robert Burns (1759-1796), from his humble Ayrshire beginnings in 1759 to his untimely death in Dumfries at the age of just 37.

Widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, Burns was a pioneer of the Romantic movement, championed the causes of the French and American revolutions, collected traditional Scottish folk songs and tales, and wrote "Auld Lang Syne", "A Red, Red, Rose", and "To a Mouse", which inspired John Steinbeck's 1937 novel, "Of Mice and Men."

On her travels in 1912, Doré Körner purchased this miniature book with its tartan cover while in Glasglow, Scotland. Was she a fan of Robert Burns? Likely so! His work, consisting of lyrical and humorous poems and songs, probably appealed to a young girl who was traveling the world on her own for the first time.

After his untimely death, Burns's fame took off, with Burns Clubs popping up all over Europe, Russia, and America to foster appreciation for his work and the Scottish language. Clubs typically host an annual Burns Supper on his birthday, January 25, at which Burn's poem, "Address to a Haggis", is read with bagpipe accompaniment, a glass of Scotch whiskey, and enjoyment of Scotland's national dish. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

05/23/2023

The Breakfast Room: delightful at any time of the day! 🍳

After the home's original central carriageway was closed in and converted to living space around 1890, Jule added this breakfast room, where the family took most of their meals. A less formal space than the dining room, the breakfast room is next to the main kitchen, which features a pass-through window, making it easier for domestic help to deliver food to the dining area.

The room also features glass skylights, thought to be among the first installed in a private home in North Carolina, which provided a well-lit room for Polly Alice's very Victorian obsession with houseplants.

Oversize molding in a beaded pattern adds a playful touch to room, which provides a nice contrast to the darker formality of the adjacent Dining Room. The embossed panels on the walls and ceiling are thought to be made from lincrusta, a revolutionary substance for the time. Made from compressed paper and linseed oil, lincrusta provided a newer, less expensive alternative to detailed plasterwork that was paintable and even washable!

05/20/2023

Today is a great day to stop by Körner's Folly for a visit! Take a journey through the eclectic Victorian home of Jule Körner and his family and see what sparks your imagination! ✨

Will be it be the pint-sized Children's Playrooms? The first private little theater in America? Or perhaps the elaborate cast-plaster details festooning nearly every room?

On a self-guided tour, you set the pace! Allow yourself to wander through "The House of Art & Surprises"!

Tickets available online or onsite inside Aunt Dealy's House (cards only at this time).
https://kornersfolly.org/buy-tickets/

05/19/2023

Visitors to the historic home of Jule Gilmer Körner are often surprised to know that he was multi-talented - not only did he design the 22-room catalog home for his interior design firm, but also gained fame through his work in advertising!

Trained as a painter and photographer, he launched a sign painting business from Kernersville that caught the eye of Julian S. Carr, head of advertising for Blackwell’s Bull Durham To***co Co. in Durham, NC.

Carr hired Jule and tasked him with making Bull Durham to***co the best-known brand in America. Jule began designing and painting large-scale advertisements featuring realistic bulls on barns, buildings, and boulders, signing them “Reuben Rink” as his nom de brosse, or brush name.

Ever the self-promoter, Jule claimed to have painted Bull Durham ads all over the world, from the Rock of Gibraltar to the Great Pyramid of Giza, and even the top of Mount Kilimanjaro! Though these claims had no proof, he certainly was prolific, painting murals all over the Southeast!

Learn more about Jule's advertising career on your next visit to Körner's Folly!

Image: Jule in front of a Bull Durham advertisement in Atlanta, ca. 1873.

05/18/2023

Körner’s Folly is now seeking vendors for our Fall Vintage Market on Saturday, September 16, 2023 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Vintage Market features local artists, resellers, and dealers in vintage and retro décor, clothing, ephemera, oddities, and curiosities, as well as unique handmade items in a variety of media, including clay, fiber, glass, wood, jewelry, garden art, sculpture, and more. Vintage Market also welcomes food vendors, as well as beverages, such as coffee or tea.

Apply today at the link below! 🔗
http://bitly.ws/EEsp

05/17/2023

🤩 Wow! Take a look at this recolored image of the Reception Room, taken around 1880 when Körner's Folly served as Jule's bachelor pad, design catalog, and stables, featuring an open carriageway through the center of the ground floor!

When the whimsical structure was first built, the Reception Room was Jule's studio space, featuring a classical Greco-Roman inspired mural along the crown molding. Painted by an Italian fresco artist named Quintini who worked with Jule on many projects for his clients, the murals were eventually replaced by additional frescoes that are visible today. 🖌

05/16/2023

Family Fun Day at Körner's Folly is coming up soon on June 17! Celebrate Father's Day Weekend at Körner’s Folly with a special family-focused scavenger hunt, historic yard games and toys, and hands-on art activities! 🏸🎨🎭🔍

After your stop at the Folly, make sure to enjoy all there is to see and do in Kernersville, including the Kernersville Museum, Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, and the Kernersville Auto Museum! All of our sites will have special programming on Saturday, June 17 - stay tuned for more details!

Special thanks to our event sponsor Caudill’s! 🙌

Tickets available at the link below 👇
https://kornersfolly.org/events/family-fun-day-2/

05/11/2023

NC Mead Fest | "Mead By the People, For the People" | Stardust Cellars

So excited for our friends in Wilkesboro (and past Oktoberfest sponsors) Stardust Cellars & Taproom and their NC Mead Fest!
🍯🐝🍻😆
Head upcountry on June 3 to try some delicious local meads!

Over 9 meaderies from the NC Mead Alliance and 25 craft and food vendors! Everyone welcome! Admission is "pay what you can" with 100% of the ticket sales going to the beeYounited charity! Contact [email protected] with any questions!

05/11/2023

Today is the last day to register for People Saving Places: Preservation Tours & Ribbon Cutting - visit the link below to secure your spot! 👇
https://kornersfolly.org/events/people-saving-places/

We're looking forward to sharing the fascinating story of restoration at this amazing place, and we'd love to have you join us! 😁
Following the guided preservation tour, we'll celebrate the restoration of the Summer Kitchen with a ribbon cutting ceremony. 🎀
Light refreshments will be served. Don't miss out on this house party with Preservation Forsyth, Kernersville Historic Preservation Society, and the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission! 🎉