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a sip of history Museum's Colonial Tea a lesson in etiquette, fun Story by Cathy Jett Photos by Dana Romanoff
Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center hosts second annual Colonial Tea
Date published: 2/12/2006
Knowing proper etiquette was the key to admission into polite society in 18th-century America.
Even young girls were taught how to serve tea, dance and play games.
Yesterday, about 25 Fredericksburg-area mothers and daughters got to step back in time for a taste of life in those days, thanks to the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center.
They sipped almond-scented black tea or pale pink herbal tea from china cups, learned the dance steps to Morning Gazette and tried their hand at a variety of games and crafts as part of the museum's second annual Colonial Tea.
"It's a nice mother-daughter thing," said Dawn Ellison of Stafford County as her daughter, Lindsey, and friend Alison Smith, both 5, played Scotch Hoppers in the basement of St. George's Episcopal Church in downtown Fredericksburg.
"We left the boys at home, so it's special," agreed Lynn Smith, Alison's mother.
The tea party began with a brief talk by Martha Crimmins, a Fredericksburg tea and etiquette consultant certified by the Protocol School of Washington.
"How many of you have been to a tea?" asked Crimmins, whose business is called Perfect to a Tea.
A few of the girls seated around linen-clad tables raised their hands.
"How many of you have had tea parties?" asked Crimmins.
This time, a flurry of hands went up.
"Tea parties are a nice way to meet our friends and spend a rainy day like today," she said.
Crimmins gave them a brief background on black tea, which originally came from China, and herbal teas or "tisanes," which can be made from a variety of plants.
"Is your tea black like your mother's?" Crimmins asked the girls. "Your tea is sort of pink, isn't it? That's from cranberries."
As plates of finger sandwiches filled with pink cream cheese, mini-cupcakes with white frosting and cookies dusted with pink and green sugar were passed out, the tea mistress instructed everyone to save the sweets for last.
"That's proper etiquette," she said.
Afterward, the girls got to try their hand at a variety of games with a little help from members of the Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society, a local living-history group.
Eight-year-old Hannah Dodson of Spotsylvania County flipped two pieces of string with a metal disk in the middle over and over. But when she pulled the strings, the disk spun a few turns and then stopped.
Ten-year-old society member Nicholas Brunacci came to her rescue, showing her how to flip the string fast, then pull it back and forth. The toy, called a "whizzer," vibrated and spun.
"That was fun!" Hannah said.
One table over, Emily Quintana, 10, of Fredericksburg tossed the dice and moved her game piece a few squares in The Royal & Most Pleasant Game of A Goose, one of the first board games. She said she liked it because it takes a long time to play.
"If you landed on a goose, you had to go all the way around again," Emily said.
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Date published: 2/12/2006
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