WCVE hopes viewers will want to take home a piece of "Mercy Street," a PBS drama filmed and produced in Richmond and Petersburg before being canceled earlier this year. (Photo courtesy WCVE)
"Mercy Street," a Civil War-era drama that aired for two seasons on PBS, is auctioning off items from its set. Though the show was set in Alexandria, filming and production took place in Richmond and Petersburg. Earlier this year, when the show was not renewed for a third season, the producers of "Mercy Street" gave an entire warehouse of props and everything used for the show to the local PBS affiliate, WCVE. Now the station is selling the inventory to support the mission of the Community Idea Stations.
“It’s a great auction for people who were fans of 'Mercy Street,' and/or people who enjoy the Civil War era and might want to get a souvenir from the show,” says Katherine Mitchell, director of community engagement for the Community Idea Stations.
Among the treasures to be found at the auction are Civil War-era and other 19th-century props and antiques including furniture, textiles, lighting and pictures. There are also marble washstands, Victorian dressers and spinning wheels. Other odds and ends from the production include gravestones, cargo boxes, work tables and even refrigerators.
“What really strikes me about it,” Mitchell says, “is you go to estate sales, garage sales, auctions, but to go to one where everything you're looking at is of the [Civil War] era, it's really fascinating.”
The "Mercy Street" auction will be at 2013 Maywill St. Friday, Nov. 3, beginning at 2 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 4, at 10 a.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 5, at noon. For more information, visit the auction site.
