February 05, 2025
Kristin Hunt/for PhillyVoice
The emcee of the Tuesday tea parties at Carpenters' Hall is a historical impersonator portraying former first lady Dolley Madison. She offers etiquette tips and personal stories.
Before she moved to Washington, D.C., with America's fourth president, Dolley Madison lived in a brick house on Walnut Street. Over two centuries later, she's returning to her roots with an event series in Old City.
Carpenters' Hall, located half a block from Madison's former home, is holding tea parties each Tuesday in February hosted by the first lady. No, it's not the real Dolley — she's been dead since 1849 — but a charming historical actor who regales guests with tales from her life between sips and snacks. As she's quick to note, Americans warmed back up to tea after the British thoroughly soured them on the stuff in the Revolutionary War. But the waiters at Carpenters' Hall serve Scottish afternoon black tea, never English, just to be safe.
They also carry pots of herbal tea (raspberry or green with peppermint) and chai between the tables, each stacked with traditional tea sandwiches and other savory bites. The desserts, including mini eclairs and mousse tarts, come later, closer to the end of the 90-minute party. Madison periodically stops to chat and pose for pictures throughout the event, but she also calls the room to attention at various points to explain how she ended up in Philadelphia and why she ultimately left.
Carpenters' Hall will display its six-piece silver tea set during the Tuesday events.
Though she is remembered as the wife of James Madison, the first lady had a first marriage to John Todd, a Philadelphia lawyer. The couple wed in 1790, only a few years after Madison, nee Payne, had moved to the city with her family. The Todds settled into the Walnut Street home and had two sons. Their marriage was cut short, however, when yellow fever hit Philadelphia. The 1793 epidemic, which killed 10% of the city's population, claimed half the Todd family. Only Dolley and her oldest child, also named John, survived.
The young widow quickly remarried after her family friend Aaron Burr introduced her to longtime bachelor James Madison. The couple lived in Philadelphia until 1797, when James moved the family back to his home state of Virginia. He became president in 1809, elevating Dolley to the top hostessing job in the country.
She was a social star in D.C. long before then, helping her husband's predecessor at the White House, Thomas Jefferson, with events when his daughters were preoccupied. But as first lady, she oversaw a massive makeover of the president's mansion — and ordered the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington removed before the British troops burned the building down in the War of 1812. This well-known story serves as Madison's closer at the Tuesday teas.
Future guests can expect these glimpses into history, and a rare peak at Carpenters' Hall's own silver tea set, at the next gatherings on Feb. 11, 18 and 25.
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