Keeler Tavern Museum Will Host "Spirited" High Tea

For much of its century-long heyday as Ridgefield's gathering place, the Keeler Tavern, featured a boisterous taproom for tipplers—and a quieter retreat where ladies might share tea, conversation, and confidences.

On April 6, the fortunate guests who accept an invitation to "Tea With the Ladies of Keeler Tavern" will encounter very different tavern "spirits:" the first-person company of remarkable women who will step out of the shadows of the landmark's three-century history.

During the afternoon, hostess and socialite Julia Gilbert, wife of renowned architect Cass, will welcome the spirits of the ladies who preceded her as residents of the Keeler Tavern:

--Esther Keeler, who managed the property's transition from family home to popular hostelry and who witnessed the Battle of Ridgefield;

--Youngest child and successor Anna, who alone was responsible for managing a considerable hotel operation;

--Granddaughter Anna Marie Resseguie, a product of Victorian society, conventional, sentimental, and devout, but also with an independent (and occasionally skeptical) turn of mind;

--And free African-American Phillis Dubois, Anna Marie's "sister," virtual member of the Resseguie family, unquestioned mistress of the hotel kitchen and of the establishment's reputation for superior hospitality.

Of course, there is the accomplished hostess Julia Gilbert herself, founding member of the Ridgefield Garden Club, who went on to arrange Garden House receptions for every departing Ridgefield World War I doughboy and his family, as well as post-war relief efforts for French orphans.

Guests enjoying the elegant service of afternoon High Tea from the Royal Tea Company can expect to be joined by these very lively ladies, and to overhear their conversation as they compare notes—on life experiences, on notable visitors through the years, on relationships and significant others, and on events beyond the tavern.

Tickets for this one-of-a-kind April 6 event are $45, and $40 for Museum members. Space is limited; for reservations, visit keelertavernmuseum.org, or call 203-438-5485.

"Tea With the Ladies of Keeler Tavern" inaugurates a series of programs highlighting Strong Women, Strong Legacies—at the tavern, in Ridgefield, and beyond—in company with the Ridgefield Library and the Ridgefield League of Women Voters. Look for announcements of upcoming events at keelertavernmuseum.org.

Photo: Posing with playwright Joanne Hudson (right) are the five women who will be performing an original one-act play called "Women in the Shadows" as part of the fundraiser/program "Tea with the Ladies of Keeler Tavern" on April 6, at 3 PM, in the Garden House at the Keeler Tavern Museum on 132 Main Street in Ridgefield. They include (left to right) Mary Beth Bass (alias Julia Gilbert); Paula Curry (alias Anna Marie Resseguie); Diane Costello (alias Anna Keeler); Sue Seifer (alias Esther Keeler); and Dawn Berenson (alias Phillis Dubois). For reservations visit keelertavernmuseum.org or call 203-438-8754.