In the holiday mood

By Rita Howell
If you need to get a kick-start for the fast-approaching holiday season, the Heflin House bazaar in Sardis might be just what you need today.
Members of the Heflin Heritage Association are continuing their Christmas Bazaar today and tomorrow at the historic home on Sardis’ Main Street. The energetic volunteers have been working for weeks, decorating the venerable home and museum, planning a luncheon menu and bake sale, and even sending a delegation to the Dallas market to acquire a wide array of gift items for men, women and children.
In all, there are 92 names on the membership rolls of the Heflin Heritage Association. Everyone who is able pitches in to help with the bazaar, according to Mary Ellen Joslin, president of the group. There are decorators, cooks, servers and sales clerks.
The goal is to raise funds for the upkeep and maintenance of the Heflin House, built in 1858, and now the county’s only museum.
The Heflin House became a museum from the efforts of a group of Sardis citizens who organized the Heflin Heritage Association in 1972 to save the antebellum structure from being razed to allow construction of a commercial structure.
The home, built in 1858 — when Sardis was known as Danville — was a replica of an earlier home that Dr. Henry Laird had built at Belmont. Laird’s niece married Captain William David Heflin. The couple moved to Danville to open a store near the newly-built railroad.
The Heflin House Museum has carefully preserved the 158-year-old exterior and interior features of the home. Artifacts and furniture from the Heflins and other pioneer Sardis families are also preserved as part of the museum.
Heflin House board members broke ground November 2013 for a renovation project that added a 1,000-square-foot meeting room, created a larger, higher capacity kitchen, a wheelchair accessible bathroom and equipped a wing of the museum to serve as a bed and breakfast.
It’s now rented as a venue throughout the year for weddings, receptions, class reunions, birthday parties, bridge parties, meetings, and even weekly Rook games.
Members of the Heflin Heritage Association also cater the events.
Those who come hungry to the bazaar will find a luncheon menu of chicken salad sandwiches, soup, and dessert for $10.