Dickson-Williams Mansion to Host Let's Put the Icing on the Cake Event

Re-Enactment Celebration of Catharine Dickson and Dr. Alexander Williams’ Wedding
Where: 
Dickson-Williams Mansion in Greeneville
When: 
Sunday, August 29, 2021 - 12:00pm to Monday, August 30, 2021 - 11:45am

The Dickson-Williams Mansion is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the completion of the home with an announcement of a major event and fundraiser to be held on the evening of Sunday, August 29, 2021. Festivities will begin at 5:00 p.m. featuring tours and stories of the mansion’s history, followed at 7:00 p.m. with the reenactment of the wedding of Catharine Dickson and Dr. Alexander Williams, the original owners of the mansion.The wedding will be followed by a delightful summer supper and celebration with the guests. 

Tickets to attend the “Let’s Put the Icing on the Cake” event are $100 per couple or $50 for singles, and the proceeds will go to fund replications of 1820’s era shutters on the mansion’s 18 windows that will put “the icing on the cake,” and complete the exterior restoration of Greeneville’s historic Dickson-Williams Mansion.

Catharine will be portrayed by Dr. Alexander Williams’ third-great granddaughter, Hallie Elizabeth Williams of Knoxville and Washington, D.C., and Dr. Alexander by John Haley, Hallie’s fiancé. Catharine’s wedding dress is on display in the mansion and Hallie will wear a reproduction created by the Tusculum University Arts Outreach program.

Other re-enactors including Catharine’s parents, Dr. Alexander’s family and other dignitaries and citizens will also be dressed in period attire. Attendees are welcome to enjoy the fun and wear early 1820’s period attire or their own families’ attire representative of their ancestors.

Randy Boyd, current president of the University of Tennessee, will portray Dr. Charles Coffin, one of the early presidents of both Greeneville College and East Tennessee College which became the University of Tennessee. Dr. Coffin performed the actual wedding ceremony which took place on August 29, 1823. Randy’s wife, Jenny Boyd, an accomplished regional musician, will play the violin during the ceremony.

Invitations to the wedding will be sent in June, and sponsorships are also being sought to underwrite and present the celebration event of the 200th anniversary of the completion of the mansion. Sponsors needed include:

Summer Supper which includes food and beverages

Wedding Cake

Printing for Invitations & Programs

Period Attire

Shutters for the Mansion

In-Kind Media Sponsorships

Please contact Wilhelmina Williams at wcwilliams@embarqmail.com or call 423-257-4235 if you have an interest in sponsoring this event or would like to reserve your tickets.

About the Dickson-Williams Mansion and Museum

Long known as the “Showplace of the South,” the Dickson-Williams Mansion still commands a strong presence in the town of Greeneville, TN. William Dickson, who immigrated from Ireland when he was 16 years old, and his wife Eliza Douglas, built the Federal style mansion as a wedding gift for their only child, Catharine Douglas Dickson. The mansion was built between 1815-1821 by local craftsmen and designed by Irish architects that the Dicksons brought from his home country. Their daughter Catharine was married to Dr. Alexander Williams on August 29, 1823, at the mansion. Catharine invited all residents of Greeneville to the wedding including many dignitaries. In later years the mansion served as an academy, an inn, and the Greeneville Hospital. Due to the efforts of Greene Countian and local historian Richard Doughty, the Dickson-Williams Mansion & Museum has been restored to its former glory.