For most of the State House's tenure as the seat of government, this suite of four rooms made up the Governor's Office. Proceeding clockwise from the lower right, the first room was the reception area or waiting room. To the left through large pocket doors was the office of the governor's secretary. The northwest corner office was the governor's private inner sanctum. There is a photograph of Jeff Davis and his secretary in what is identified as his law office. The space, however, is virtually identical with this room and probably gives a good idea of what it looked like. The fourth room was the governor's official office where he would receive visitors from the waiting room.
Today these same four rooms constitute the galleries of our First Families exhibit. Once again proceeding clockwise from the lower right, the first room is an introductory gallery with a number of cases. One features Chelsea and Hillary Clinton's presidential inaugural gowns and another has a complete place setting of dinnerware from the present Governor's Mansion. The second room features an enormous case with memorabilia from past governors. The final two rooms are devoted to the Old State House Museum's collection of inaugural gowns of the governors' wives. The northwest room houses the more recent gowns; while the oldest pieces in the collection are in the final gallery.
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