Clarence Tripp

[Laurie Verge]

I must admit that I was very surprised when both Baker and especially Hanchett seemed to back that theory. I agree with Betty as to the sleeping arrangements during the earlier centuries.

Surratt House has a travelers' bedrom because gentlemen travelers could purchase sleeping space in that room for 25-cents a night (it cost a dollar, however, to house one's horse across the road at the Surratt's stable!).

Notice that I said sleeping "space." There is only a double bed in that room, and our visitors are often surprised when we tell them that it was routine for strangers to share that bed and that sometimes one might be the third man in that bed. Late-comers might get a straw pallet on the floor. We Americans are much more private today than our ancestors were -- and even more now than many other cultures.