By Alan Burke
Staff writer
—
MARBLEHEAD — Mary Glover Hooper thought of it as the highlight of her life.
In a Marblehead ballroom, a beautiful, cobalt blue dress with black brocade clinging to her petite frame, she took the hand of a national hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, and danced across the floor, every eye following.
It was 1784, the Revolution had ended in triumph, and the French nobleman was making a tour (not his last) of his adopted country. Tomorrow, Massachusetts will mark Lafayette Day, and Marblehead will renew ties to its French sister city of Grasse with ceremonies lasting two days.
The town will honor a contingent of six visiting from Grasse, including Senator-Mayor Jean-Pierre Leleux, the president of that city's art association and two artists and two elected representatives. On Friday, Hooper's dress will be among the artifacts displayed at the Jeremiah Lee Mansion.
"It's a nifty dress," says Pam Peterson of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society, where the dress has been preserved. Other bits of Lafayette lore will be on display, including a glass the great man once used as he spoke.
Meanwhile, dozens of residents, businesspeople and Marblehead officials have joined in reaching out to their French sibling. Yet, it was Myriam Zuber who brought the idea of reinvigorating the sister-city arrangement to the selectmen last year. Put in charge, she even made an encouraging trip to Grasse on her own initiative and at her own expense.
A Marblehead resident, Zuber was born in France to a French father and American mother. "In America," she notes, "volunteerism is very highly appreciated. It's part of civic participation." All the money needed for these ceremonies was raised privately. For example, French guests will be hosted during their stay by the Harbor Light Inn, the Pink House on Gerry Street and the Seagull Inn.
France relies less on volunteers. In Grasse, maintaining sister cities is included in the budget. Leleux, who was not yet mayor, was part of a delegation visiting Marblehead in 1985 when the relationship was first established.
Marbleheaders are expected to return the favor and visit Grasse next September. Deb Greel of the Arts Association has already made known her intention to take an exhibit to France. Less certain is the participation of elected officials. Selectmen would have to pay their own way.
Meanwhile, this week's festivities are expected to strengthen social, artistic, commercial and political ties between the two communities. Zuber suggests, for example, that young Marbleheaders could work in Grasse to promote that city's famous perfume industry. English speakers are needed to deal with tourists.
Lafayette is not Marblehead's only tie to France. The town's patriots were grateful to another Revolutionary War comrade-in-arms, the French Admiral de Grasse. Born in Grasse, he blockaded the Virginia coast ensuring Washington's decisive victory over the British army at Yorktown in 1781.
A bust of the Compte de Grasse can be found in the selectmen's meeting room at Abbot Hall.
Tomorrow at 5 p.m. in that room, officials and experts on the history, including Harvard professor Patrice Higonnet and Tocqueville translator Art Goldhammer, will discuss the war for independence.
Artifacts will help illustrate Marblehead's role. After all, Lafayette danced with Mary Glover Hooper because she was the daughter of his good friend and George Washington's aide Gen. John Glover.
A "reactivation ceremony" in the auditorium will include French Consul General in Boston Christophe Guilhou, as well as Sen. Tom McGee (D-Lynn) and Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead).
On Friday, the Marblehead Arts Association will officially open an exhibit of art from the Grasse Arts Association. "I'm so excited to meet the people behind this," says Greel, who is already displaying the artwork.
Later, historical re-enactments at the Lee Mansion will include Lafayette impersonator Loic Barnieu.
Alan Hoffman, who translated an account of Lafayette's final trip to America in 1824, will also be there. A member of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society, he became entranced with the Frenchman's story and his almost "instantaneous" bond with Washington and America.
"It's a pretty big part of my life," he says.
More information is available at marblehead-grasse.com/index.html.
