The Dancing Cloud

The Sweet Briar House has long been known for the lovely pier mirrors in its parlors. Originally, there were six and they were a delight for the children who were invited to the house to play with Daisy.

In 1931, an elderly woman, Elizabeth Robertson Lee, wrote a journal of her childhood experiences for her family. Elizabeth had been a cousin of the Caperton family who lived on a farm adjoining Sweet Briar lands. She visited her aunt, uncle, and cousins from her home in Buena Vista across the mountain during several summers as a little girl.

"We loved to visit Daisy at Sweet Briar. We could dance and pirouette in front of the tall mirrors in the parlors because we could see our reflections multiplied so many times. After we played, Mrs. Williams would give us cakes and sweets. It was like a fairy tale castle and Daisy was the princess. We did love to dance before the mirrors."

One afternoon, one of the professors who lived at Sweet Briar House stood before one of the tall mirrors to adjust her hat before going out.

How careless, she thought, the mirror is so cloudy it must need cleaning. As she looked more closely the cloudiness vanished only to return a few moments later. The cloud seemed to move across the glass like a mist, disappear, and then the mirror cleared. She said it looked as though the cloud was dancing.

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Ghost Stories & Mysteries of Sweet Briar

- as told by Sweet Briar Museum Director Ann Whitley

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- a collection of true life Sweet Briar encounters submitted by students, alumnae, faculty and staff

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