The Vaile House

 

My friend April is interested in interior decorating and always has leads on cool things to see and do around KC that involve it. Today she (and baby Griffin) took me to the Vaile Mansion in Independence Missouri. It's a historic home owned by the city and run by a group of women that oversee the fundraising, cleaning, decorating, and upkeep. The women were offering a Christmas tour of the house. Each room is not only decorated in gorgeous antique furniture, paintings, and light fixtures, but it there are stunning Christmas decorations in each room. We had a tour guide who took us through each room and spoke about all of the features, whether it be who was in the portraits on the wall or how much it would cost to tune the grand piano. She did an amazing job and I had such a great time looking through the house. It was immaculate and overwhelming in it's beauty. Here are some of the history tips from the home:

• Built by Colonel and Mrs. Harvey Vaile in 1881. The 31 room mansion includes 9 marble fireplaces, spectacular painted ceilings, flushing toilets, a built-in 6,000 gallon water tank, and a 48,000 gallon wine cellar. This mansion is one of the best examples of Second Empire style architecture in the United States.
• Some time after Colonel Vaile built the mansion he encountered some trouble when he was accused of mail fraud and potentially faced a jail sentence.
• Mrs. Vaile, mortified over the accusation, took an overdose of morphine and killed herself (whether purposely or not) in 1889.
• Colonel Vaile was later exonerated. He never remarried and died 5 years later
•  Supposedly the main is still haunted by Sylvia Vaile and there are reports that state she's been seen looking out the windows of the mansion
• Legend has it that her husband couldn't part with her corpse so he buried her in the front yard in a glass topped coffin but neighbors' protests forced him to give his wife a traditional burial

After the house trip we had lunch at Sonic (I've never been before and wouldn't have figured out the order system without April) and then off to Cargo Largo, an overstock warehouse that has a little bit of everything - I found some covergirl mascara for $3!

We had a great afternoon. Going to the home and seeing the decorations reminds me of a family friend, Sharon Little, who owns a beautiful home in St. Thomas and decorates wonderfully for Christmas. For the past several years I've worked at her home for several events and it was comforting to be reminded of home this time of year.