Who is this person?

[L Verge]

(12-29-2018 11:54 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  

(12-29-2018 07:00 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Re.: "Restaurants in the 19th century in the U.S. routinely advertised 'private rooms for ladies' or 'private rooms for ladies and families'" - how many honorable ladies and families would you expect in that environment?

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Plenty. Respectable ladies could, and did, travel without male companions, either out of necessity or for pleasure. I believe that trains also offered some all-ladies cars.

I agree with Susan. In fact, Surratt House has two dining rooms - a public one for gentlemen travelers and the family dining room. On the few occasions when a traveling female or several in a group or with children might be on one of the stagecoaches that stopped at Surratt House at meal time, those customers would be fed in the family's dining room.

The stage actually ran out of D.C. three days a week into the southern counties of Maryland (the economic backbone - except for Baltimore - of the state because of the antebellum slave system and the production of tobacco). The return trip to D.C. was made the other three days. Because of the gentry related to Southern Maryland since the colonial days, I suspect that some well-to-do ladies might well have eaten separately at the Surratts' establishment.

Just remember that "private rooms" did not always suggest extra entertainment. They were part of the culinary scene. There used to be a Japanese restaurant in Georgetown years ago that had side "rooms" separated from the main dining room by heavy drapes. Behind those drapes were just a table and chairs or a large booth.