(Not) Gone with the wind

COLUMBIA -- Less than a block away the traffic is passing on West 7th Street and you can see the neon lights of a convenience store. Inside the Athenaeum Rectory, however, 45 women spent Friday evening and all day Saturday living in the 1860's.

Wearing dresses, accessories and hairstyles more or less correct for the period, they brushed up their skills in needlework, penmanship and watercolor painting, and received instruction in tea customs, etiquette, mourning and period dance.

Since 1991 there has been a weeklong summer school at the Athenaeum Rectory for girls 14-18. About 10 years ago, in response to comments from these young ladies' friends and relatives, they decided to start offering a Ladies Weekend as well.

Thanks to an article in this spring's Tennessee Home & Farm, a quarterly published for members of the Farm Bureau, 45 women signed up to participate on May 2-3.

"This is more than twice what we've ever had, but I hated to turn anyone down," explains organizer Linda Gupton of Lewisburg, current president of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities.

Mark Orman, a history teacher from Columbia, explained to Jessica Mozo . . .Pickup a copy of today's edition of the Marshall County Tribune for full coverage and photos....