The Richards-DAR House Museum will host a Gilded Age Gala celebrating the era’s elegance, history, and women’s leadership. Inspired by nineteenth-century receptions, the evening will feature period-inspired décor, music, food, fashion, a self-guided museum tour, and stories of influential women who shaped American society.

The gala will spotlight Alva Vanderbilt, a prominent society leader known for lavish entertaining, architectural ambition, and later advocacy for women’s suffrage, and Mary Desha, an educator, reformer, and co-founder of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although Desha was not from Mobile, she and Vanderbilt were cousins. Alva Vanderbilt was from Mobile, and their family connection highlights the enduring ties among local history, family, and civic engagement.

Guests will enjoy period-inspired hors d’oeuvres, desserts, wine, sparkling beverages, and punch, along with Gilded Age-inspired clothing displays, fictional historical letters, period-themed photo opportunities, and music.

Guests are encouraged to wear cocktail or Gilded Age-inspired attire.

The gala will celebrate the Richards-DAR House Museum’s role in preserving Mobile’s history and honoring women’s contributions to education, civic life, and historic preservation.

$75 per ticket. Each ticket includes unlimited tours of the Museum Dec 4-6 for ticket holder and one guest throughout the 3 day event. For ticket information, call 251-208-7320.