Spirits of McClendon House

-Photo by Herb Nygren, Jr.

Ever gazed at a mysterious looking old home and wondered who once lived there? "Spirit tours" of the stately Bonner-Whitaker-McClendon House are scheduled to begin Friday, allowing the curious to learn more about the history of the 1870s-era Victorian and its colorful family ties.Guided tours - featuring "spirits" of former residents dressed in period attire - are being offered by the Society for the Restoration and Historic Preservation of the Bonner Whitaker McClendon House Inc., supported by the Paranormal Society of Tyler.

Tours are scheduled for 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and again on Oct. 5, 6, 12, 13, 26 and 27.

Tickets will be sold at the door for $7 per person with proceeds used to fund repairs and upkeep of the home, 806 W. Houston St.

Tours are expected to take about 45 minutes to complete. Cameras will be allowed.

"The McClendon House is open to the community and we do guided tours all the time, but this is our first time for this type of activity," said Daye Collins, society president. "This is a unique way to show off the history of Tyler and tell the stories of the people who lived here."
Paranormal society member Dena Moseley, who assists in the Spirits of Oakwood tours, said lending efforts to the fundraising activity for the McClendon House makes good sense.

"This will be historic, fun and happy," she said. "We love the McClendon House and we want to do everything we can to help support it because it's such a treasure."

-Photo by Herb Nygren, Jr.
Mark Beukema is in character as Sydney McClendon in the dining room of the Bonner Whitaker McClendon House.

SPIRITED HISTORY

The McClendon House is located on a tract of land Judge M.H. Bonner, a Texas State Supreme Court Justice, purchased from his former law partner, Texas' first governor J. Pinckney Henderson.

When Bonner's oldest daughter Martha Matilda (Mattie) Bonner married attorney Harrison Whitaker, the happy couple was gifted with two acres of the land on which to build a home.

They shopped in New York for lavish furnishings, filling their home with fine quality furniture and artwork. The house, surrounded by lush landscaping and architecture, quickly became a magnet for social gatherings.

A few years after Mattie's untimely death, her husband remarried and moved the family to Beaumont.

The house was sold to Mattie's younger sister, Annie and her husband, Sydney McClendon, who were raising nine children.

Their youngest, Sarah McClendon, was an ambitious go-getter who became a journalist, went to Washington D.C. and covered 11 presidents during her lengthy, often controversial career.

By 1981, only two McClendon sisters, Annie and Patience, remained in the house.

After their father's death, the women essentially drew the shades and shuttered themselves away from society to write and research family history.

Decades passed and the house fell into extreme disrepair.

Neighborhood children began to whisper about the "witches" after sighting the sisters boiling their clothing outdoors in a big kettle.

After their deaths, trunks filled with Patience's carefully scripted poems and archives were stored in a warehouse where they would sit for nearly 20 years before being rediscovered.

Relatives decided to donate the home so it could be historically restored, prompting the creation of the non-profit McClendon House Society.

In the early 1980s, the house was emptied so the society could begin on the interior, but within weeks, an arsonist set the house on fire. Damages were minimal due to the high quality of construction, said Ms. Collins.

The McClendon House, with its original furniture, was opened to the public as the 1988 Designer Showcase for Historic Tyler's Heritage on Tour.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and noted as a Texas State Historical Landmark and Tyler Historic Landmark.

Efforts continue to catalogue 125 years worth of history, revealed through rare books, 1880s newspapers, Victorian textiles, music, personal letters and effects.

Information contained in these family treasures has provided the society with a "remarkable" glimpse into the past lives of three families, said Ms. Collins.

Member enlisted as "spirits" say the information has been invaluable in helping mold their characters.

"I've read a lot of her letters," said society vice president Vandy Dubre, who plans to portray Mattie, the oldest daughter. "She was a headache for Mama and Papa, the life of the party."

Society member Sue Barham used the writings to become familiar with her reclusive character, Patience.

"She was very forceful and had a very commanding presence," she said. "I'm going to have to work to get into character."

Other ghostly cast members featured in the tour will include Rob Jones as Judge Bonner, Debbie Beukema as Annie McClendon, Ann Peveto as Sarah McClendon and Mark Beukema, who has been tapped to portray Sydney McClendon.

"We've done a lot of murder mysteries and those were a lot of fun so we expect this will be as well," he said. "It's always been a very small group of people involved with the house, but interest seems to be growing."