Victorian Tea at the Kirkman House Museum

WALLA WALLA - Imagine enjoying an afternoon tea in Victorian elegance without traveling to England or British Columbia. You can do so on Sunday, May 4, when Walla Walla's Kirkman House Museum hosts its annual Victorian tea.

What is afternoon tea? It is a culinary custom that arose in Britain in the early nineteenth century. Sharing a snack and a pot of tea helped Britons endure the long interval between lunch and dinner, which in those days was eaten late, often eight or nine hours after the midday meal.

Around 1840, Anna Maria Russell, 7th Duchess of Bedford and close friend of Queen Victoria, formalized the practice of afternoon tea, and her example spread rapidly among the upper classes. For the Duchess, a proper afternoon tea consisted of three courses, all accompanied by tea. The first course was savory, featuring a variety of dainty sandwiches like cucumber, egg and cress, or smoked salmon. The second course included crumpets or scones with clotted cream and jam. The third topped everything off with cakes and pastries. The Duchess had only one requirement for the food she served: it must not stain the white gloves of the ladies gathered around her table.

Afternoon tea crossed the pond to America in the 1870s when Americans began developing a thirst for tea, spurred partly by the temperance movement and its claims of tea's health benefits. The Protestant work ethic made Americans less inclined to take afternoon breaks, and they typically drank their tea without reaching for a snack due to their earlier dinner hour. Consequently, Americans reserved afternoon tea for special occasions. Tea parties became fashionable among the middle and upper classes during America's Gilded Age.

In 1877, the Walla Walla Statesman observed, "Fashion in France, England, and America requires a lady to wear her bonnet at all receptions, lunch parties, and afternoon teas. The afternoon tea is after the English and is simply a small reception with a cup of tea handed in the most informal manner and usually takes place between 3 and 5 o'clock. Gentlemen may accompany the ladies."

Newspapers across America regularly reported on these afternoon teas. In 1899, one newspaper in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, described a particularly elaborate tea where the hostess entertained thirty-five ladies:

"The parlors were decorated with cosmos-pink and white; the reception room and library were most beautiful with pink roses and trailing asparagus. The dainty tea tables, eight in number, were lovely with china, cut glass, and souvenir rosebuds. The name cards bearing the monogram of the hostess were also treasured souvenirs. The elaborate luncheon was served in courses and was discussed with much favorable comment from the guests. Such displays of wealth allowed hostesses to signal their social status and position, particularly on the frontier, where it demonstrated they had "made it."

To avoid the appearance of self-aggrandizement, many hostesses chose to host teas as celebrations of friends and persons of importance. In 1909, the Walla Walla Evening Statesman suggested that a neighborhood tea would honor "a choice friend staying with you." Members of sororities at Whitman College learned of the practice by holding teas for visiting alumnae at the homes of local alumnae.

Charity teas also gained in popularity. "Kensington" teas combined tea with needlework. At one such event in Miami in 1918, ladies were asked to "bring their knitting or other Red Cross work." At another tea in 1899, the hostess sponsored a sewing contest with prizes.

Although cocktail parties eventually supplanted tea parties in the twentieth century, you can still go back in time to experience an afternoon tea by attending the Victorian Tea the Kirkman House Museum is hosting on Sunday, May 4, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. This year's tea features a Mad Hatter theme, so guests are encouraged to wear their most flamboyant headwear in honor of Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Tickets must be purchased in advance at kirkmanhousemuseum.org.