Happy Edenton Tea Party Day!

I thought that Edenton Tea Party Day would be a great time to tell you about a fun new cookbook I recently discovered, Take The Tour, published by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Edenton, North Carolina in 1995. Edenton is known as the home of an early political protest, the Edenton Tea Party, which is believed to be "the earliest recorded political activity by colonial women," according to this book. The leader of this event was one Penelope Barker, and she and other local ladies protested the tax on tea by signing their names to a document that read, in part, "We the ladies of Edenton do hereby solemnly engage not to conform to ye pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea or that we, the aforesaid Ladies, will not promote ye wear of any manufacture from England, until such time that all Acts which tend to enslave this our Native Country shall be repealed." So these ladies were gathering and sipping their last cups of tea for a while on October 25, 1774, exactly 245 years ago today!

The tea party is commemorated with this historic marker in Edenton (also pictured on my vintage postcard here), and I'd never seen a painting of the marker before, but it's on the back of the cookbook.

The teapot features prominently in the graphics of the cookbook, and I love that women's history, tea, and teapots came together in an important event so many years ago. Clearly, I wanted this cookbook for the graphics and the historic information, but I was delighted to find that it also includes a recipe for Penelope Barker Lace Cookies, so I will be trying those soon!