Travel exploded during the mid-19th century. Many factors both technological and economic allowed for more Americans to travel abroad. One of those Americans who took advantage of this changing travel environment was Joanna Lane.
Visit Lane Place in 2015 to learn about 19th century travel by exploring the trip that Joanna Lane took abroad in 1882. Joanna’s souvenirs will be displayed throughout the home. One souvenir is a marble bust of Joanna’s husband, Henry Lane, who passed away the year before she took her trip. Joanna commissioned the bust in Italy. Joanna may have been influenced to commission the work due to a marble statue of Columbus that she saw in Genoa. She describes the Genoa statue as: “…a splendid, white marble monument… erected near the R.R. Station to perpetuate his memory—not that he is in danger of being forgotten—for his services to mankind were too great for that. But it is a lasting proof that his countrymen loved and revered his memory.” Perhaps Joanna wanted a lasting proof of the admiration that she had for Henry.
Marble Relief of Henry Lane
See more of Joanna’s souvenirs in the exhibit opening March 2015.
Montgomery County Historical Society 