Scents and sensibilities: New virtual exhibit explores perfumes in colonial America

A1 Minute! August, 25, 2023: Week in Review

It’s easy to raise a glass to the art and science of distillation in praise of fine liquors. A new virtual exhibition presented by the Williamsburg-based Spirits Foundation & Museum is offering a glimpse into other roles that distilling played in making Virginia and the other colonies healthier — and less stinky — places.

“Distilling Scent: Perfume and the Culture of Olfaction in Early America,” which opened Aug. 8 at spiritsmuseum.org, reveals an aspect of colonial life that’s creating intriguing new opportunities for research, said Clanci Jo Conover, the museum’s curator.

The exhibition, which can be seen through Jan. 2 next year dives into a brief history of perfume, the perfumes of 16th- and 17th-century Europe, understanding scent in colonial America and the recipes and tools required to capture refinement in a bottle.

Distilling alcohol for medicines already was valuable to colonial Americans, who battled all kinds of ailments in the New World. The world’s first modern distillers, based in Iraq and Iran, focused on medicines, fragrances and scientific applications for alcohol. The spirits Americans value today for cocktails and neat sipping also made it possible for residents to avoid waterborne illnesses in the first place.

“Essentially, a lot of settlers got sick here because the water wasn’t clean and they didn’t know where the clean springs were,” Conover told The Daily Progress. “It was a way to purify things.”

When travelers set out on long voyages or overland journeys, “if you had whiskey rather than beer, it was safer,” Conover said.

Distilling alcohol at home on the farm “was relatively common,” she said. “It would’ve been more common to brew beer or make cider, but liquor would last longer.”

“Making perfume would have been typically reserved for those who were well off,” Conover said. “People would have created their own blends at home.” Roses and orange blossoms were early favorites.

Many scents were created from roses, orange blossoms and other fragrant botanicals — many of which remain familiar and popular today.

“Some of them were similar to what we use today, but not as sophisticated,” Conover said.

Some of the nation’s founders even had signature scents. George Washington’s was Caswell-Massey No. 6 Eau de Parfum, created in 1772 and still available today. It features opening notes of citrus, neroli, bergamot and rosemary, gets its depth from amber and dries down to rose, musk and myrrh scents.

Legend has it that the nation’s first president liked it so much that he often gave the scent as gifts to friends — and one recipient, the Marquis de Lafayette, enjoyed it enough to buy more for himself.

At least two other presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, are said to have treasured it as well.

Although Conover said she could not confirm whether Thomas Jefferson wore it, she said he was a devoted Francophile who would have been aware of the popular appeal of French fragrances during his years in France. His passion for botany and gardening also are likely to have inspired some perfume-making experiments, she said.

Some trends popular in today’s fragrances had allegiances even then, with a distinction between manly and ladylike fragrances. First lady Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, enjoyed Caswell-Massey’s White Rose cologne water.

“You would find a man wearing something musky or woody,” Conover said. Then as now, men were less likely to wear what are seen as traditionally floral scents.

As Europeans in the new land interacted with Indigenous tribes and nations, they learned about the scents that already were popular here. Resins and woods native to the Americas appealed to the locals they met.

One recipe item has changed: animal musks are no longer used in contemporary products, so recreated historical scents will reflect some differences the leaders of the free world might have noticed.

The enticing scents helped conceal an unfortunate truth about life in early America.

“It was very sporadic that people would bathe,” Conover said.

The virtual exhibition removes barriers by giving people the opportunity to enjoy without the need to travel and hunt for parking spaces. Conover said she hopes people will enjoy the virtual exhibition, and that they’ll want to learn more about the many ways in which distilling helped a new country get off to a good start. Definitely a less malodorous one.

She is excited about the prospects of learning more about America’s distilling past, which blends history, science, art and celebrity culture of yesteryear into a heady, lingering note.

“This whole area of distillation before the Revolutionary War has not been explored,” Conover said. “It’s just so under-researched. There’s quite a lot to learn.”

Jane Dunlap Sathe

(434) 978-7249

[email protected]

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A1 Minute! August, 25, 2023: Week in Review