Explore the Museum

at The Peel Museum & Botanical Garden

Foyer

As the first glimpse into the house, the foyer was specifically designed to impress the visiting guests.

Staircase

The grand winding staircase features steps and risers of durable oak and pine, with a banister and balusters crafted from native Arkansan black walnut. This striking design showcased the home’s elegance and the Peel family’s prominent social status.

Faux Graining

The doorways to the Study and Parlor feature faux wood graining, a specialized painting technique created with small brushes and turkey feathers. This intricate process required skilled artisans who were paid, housed, and fed during their work, making it a status symbol of wealth. Restored in the 1990s by a Little Rock artisan, the faux graining reflects the craftsmanship and elegance of the era.

Transom Windows

Constructed without electricity or gas, this home makes clever use of transom windows above two adjoining rooms, which can be opened to allow air to circulate. The central tower further contributed to the home’s cooling during warmer months by allowing hot air to rise and escape through its open windows.

The Parlor

The parlor reflects the family’s social status, showcasing popular forms of entertainment and consumerism of the era and the social norms surrounding courting rituals.

Courting Sofa

In the Victorian era, dating was known as courting, and the parlor was the setting for these rituals. The room features two courting sofas, designed to seat a couple with a chaperone positioned between them, maintaining the propriety of the time.

Courting Candle

The courting candle, a spiral iron candle holder, served as a timer for the courting couple. Mr. and Mrs. Peel could control how long a gentleman could spend with their daughter by adjusting the candle’s position. The gentleman had until the flame burned down from the top of the candle to the top of the spiral to make a favorable impression.

Piano

The room features a rich red wood 1872 Steinway piano, accompanied by a music stand intricately carved with vines encircling a lyre. Music and drinks were the primary forms of entertainment for guests visiting the Peel family.

Wallpaper

During the renovation, remnants of colors and patterns were found behind the baseboards, and then analyzed to determine the oldest layer of wallpaper. Using scans of these patches, several rooms have been restored to feature the exact design that was originally installed, including Mrs. Peel’s parlor, which was papered in her favorite color—pink

The Study

The study is considered Mr. Peel’s personal space in the home, where he could work or host meetings, while still being connected to his family. This room is darker and more masculine than others in the house, and is decorated to reflect his standing as a lawyer and congressman.

Congressman

Peel was elected to Congress in 1883 and served until 1893. During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Samuel Peel was appointed as the chairman on the Board of Indian Affairs and built relationships with multiple tribes in the area. After leaving Congress in 1893, Mr. Peel continued to practice law in D.C. and in Arkansas and represented some of the tribes as their lawyer on the federal level.

Curio Cabinet

This large, dark wood cabinet houses a collection of geological specimens, and is an example of the Victorians’ obsession with showing off possessions.

Wallpaper

During the renovation, remnants of colors and patterns were found behind the baseboards, and then analyzed to determine the oldest layer of wallpaper. Using scans of these patches, several rooms have been restored to feature the exact design that was originally installed, including Mr. Peel’s study, which is an Arts & Crafts Movement wallpaper. This style was popular during the late Victorian period when the house was built.

Dining Room

The dining room served as another formal entertainment space where Mrs. Peel showcased the family’s wealth and social standing. This was a space where table manners and proper etiquette were strictly observed. In fact, only children aged 13 and older were allowed to dine here, while younger children ate elsewhere—either in the prep kitchen behind the dining room or in the detached workers’ kitchen. Mary Emaline ensured that the family, as well as everyone living and working on the farm, always had food by keeping her five-room cellar, located beneath the house, well-stocked with preserved fruits, vegetables, and smoked meats.

Walk-Through Pantry

In the dining room, there is a built-in cabinet with a small door just behind the shelves. This served as a pass-through, allowing workers in the prep kitchen behind the dining room to deliver prepared dishes without having to enter the room.

Peel’s China

The Haviland china, with the gold rim and “P”, was ordered for Mr. Peel to use in his Washington, D.C. residence while he served in Congress.

Silver Pitcher

This silver pitcher once belonged to Mary Emaline Peel, the lady of the house. Her initials are delicately etched into the front of the pitcher.

Silverware

At the head of the table rests a single silver spoon, featuring a familiar “P” monogram. This spoon once belonged to Congressman Peel, and its monogram matches that of Samuel’s Congressional China. In 2024, the spoon was donated to the Peel Museum and Botanical Garden by one of Samuel and Mary Peel’s great-great-granddaughters.

Outdoor Kitchen

During the original construction of the home, this outdoor kitchen was a freestanding structure, separate from the main house—common in Victorian-era architecture. It was the only room in the house with a wood-burning fireplace, which posed a higher risk of fire. By building the kitchen as a detached space, the risk of the entire home burning down in the event of a kitchen fire was significantly reduced.

Fireplace

The fireplace in the outdoor kitchen is larger and deeper than the others in the house because it was a wood-burning fireplace.

Buttermold

Butter made fresh on the farm would be pressed into the rectangle mold and pushed out of the bottom of the container. They often had images carved into the top so that it would leave an imprint on the butter.

Dried Herbs

Mary Emaline Peel had a large herb and vegetable in the garden. Many herbs would be dried and processed in the large kitchen and then used in cooking or preserving food.

Upstairs

The rooms upstairs are more simply decorated compared to those downstairs, reflecting their private nature. Guests were not invited into the upstairs portion of the home, which housed the family’s personal rooms and bedrooms. These spaces contained some of their belongings, along with photographs of both immediate and extended family members.

When the family moved into the home, the oldest Peel child was 21, while the youngest had not yet been born. In fact, Mary Emaline was pregnant with their youngest child, Mary Ruby, who was the only one of their children born in this house. Alice was already married and never lived here, and it is believed that James, who was already practicing law by 1875, didn’t live here either. The seven other Peel children would have lived in the house until they established themselves in society, either through marriage or career.

Main Bedroom

The main bedroom was Samuel and Mary’s refuge from the constant activity of working, entertaining, and taking care of their children and home. The room provides insight into how married couples lived in the late 1800s.

Horsefair Mattress

Horsehair and wool were the most common fillings for mattresses, with horsehair being the most desirable due to its durability and cooler feel, though it was more expensive. As was typical for wealthier families of the time, the mattress in the main bedroom is filled with horsehair.

Blue Floor

Bedrooms often had painted floors because it was costly to stain the wood. During the restoration of the house, experts tested the floor and were able to discover the original color–the brilliant blue that is seen today

Baltimore Friend Quilt

Displayed on their bed is a Baltimore friend quilt, skillfully crafted by Jill Marquess, the great-great-granddaughter of Mary and Samuel Peel.

Boys’ Room

This bedroom was shared by the three boys: James, David, and Frank. The eldest, James, was 21 years old when the Peels moved into the house and was known as “Mac” by his family and friends. He was a well-respected lawyer and highly popular in Bentonville. David, who was 15 at the time the family moved in, would later become a prominent banker, founding and operating the First Bank of Bentonville. Frank, still a child when the family moved in, likely spent much of his time in this room. Frank went on to work in newspapers, insurance, and for the railroad. He married Zilla Cross, a reporter and columnist who wrote A Woman Reporter’s Notebook for the Benton County Sun, a local newspaper she inherited in the 1920s.

Bucky

“Bucky” the rocking horse, dating back to the 1850s, is a cherished family heirloom. Made of fabric, leather, wood, and other materials, Bucky features an English saddle but has worn-out mane, tail, and ears from years of use. Older than the house itself, Bucky has been ridden by generations of Peel children. On loan from the Peel family, it continues to hold sentimental value, with descendants often visiting and sharing stories of their time with him.

Victrola Phonograph

The Victrola phonograph quickly became one of the most popular home entertainment devices of the early 20th century. Housed in a tall wooden cabinet with cupboard doors and slots for records, the Victrola played large discs, known as “records,” bringing music into homes and filling them with sound.

Typewriter

Invented in 1868, the Remington Portable typewriter was a revolutionary tool used for both schoolwork and correspondence. Peel likely used one to write letters, while his sons would have used it to complete their school assignments.

Girls’ Room

The Peel family had four daughters: Alice, Fannie, Elizabeth, and Ruby. Elizabeth and Ruby spent the most time in this space, preparing for their futures as wives and daughters in the late 1800s. Alice married Samuel D. McReynolds, a private banker, before the family moved into this home, and later remarried James W. Vance, having six children in total. Fannie lived here briefly before marrying James Clark, a physician, with whom she had three daughters. Elizabeth lived here from ages 12 to 18, then married Leonidas H. McGill, an attorney, with whom she had eight children. Mary Ruby, born in the home in 1876, lived here until her 1899 marriage to William L. Peters, with whom she adopted one daughter. She later remarried Norman Bowden and supported herself and her daughter by renting their home in Oklahoma to boarders.

Hairbrush

The hairbrush placed on the dresser and mirror set offers insight into beauty standards during the time the Peel girls would have used this room. In the 1870s, one prominent hairstyle was the “waterfall hairstyle,” which involved piling the hair high on the head and often accessorizing it with decorative combs, ribbons, or jeweled headpieces. This style was indicative of the fashion of the era, where a focus on intricate, voluminous hair was seen as a symbol of femininity and social status.

Katherine Painting

Painted by Emma Richardson Cherry, a prolific painter of landscape, still life, and portrait. She lived in Texas at the same time as Katherine Peel Anderson and was a founder of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

Tatted Bed Covering

The bed covering was made by a local woman and donated to us. It took over 7 years to make and is extremely delicate. Tatting is a form of lace making.

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