Mortality and Mourning:
Women in Black
This October visit our house to experience our newly reimagined candlelight tour, Mortality and Mourning: Women in Black. This hauntingly elegant experience builds on last year’s popular event, offering a deeper and more personal look into the ways women shaped and were shaped by grief, death, and mourning in Old St. Augustine.
Explore the 227-year-old Ximenez-Fatio House Museum draped in mourning, and uncover the roles women played as caretakers of the dead, keepers of memory, and practitioners of spiritualism from the Second Spanish Colonial Era through the Victorian Age. Through powerful stories, period customs, and historic mourning attire, this immersive tour casts new light on how women lived with loss in the 19th century.
This is a new version of our "Mortality and Mourning" tour—spooky, family-friendly, and steeped in untold stories.
With the purchase of your Mortality and Mourning ticket, you will receive a coupon code giving you a 25% off discount for our Everyday Self-guided Audio tour giving you the chance to learn the house's full history and see it in the daylight as well as by candlelight on your evening tour.
Content Advisory:
This candlelight tour that explores death, grief, and mourning practices in the 19th century. While there are no jump scares, the tour does include discussions of death, spiritualism, and related topics, along with dim lighting and somber visual displays throughout the house.
This experience is designed to be thoughtful and family-friendly, but may not be suitable for very young children or those sensitive to themes of mortality and loss. Viewer discretion is advised.
Important Accessibility Information:
Due to the house's historic nature, lighting is limited. This house will be dark as it is only lit by electric candles. Our main walkways are crushed shell and/or concrete. The Fig Tree Gift Shop is ground level with no step-ups or downs. The ground level of our House Museum is poured concrete and wood flooring. However, due to the historic nature of the building, these can be unlevel in areas and may require step-ups and downs. The second and third levels of our House Museum are only accessible by wooden stairs with railings. The outdoor kitchen and wash house are ground level and accessible. Designated areas for guest seating are provided but limited. Historical furniture and accessories may not be sat upon unless advised so by your guide.