Gilded Age Tea & Talk Series 2026

Staatsburgh's ever-popular Tea & Talk series and afternoon tea returns for 2026!

Enjoy tea and refreshments in the formal dining room while listening to seven different talks about aspects of Gilded Age history (see presentation topics and dates below). The programs feature scones, tea sandwiches, sweets and the site’s Staatsburgh Blend tea, a custom blend created for the site by renowned tea purveyors, Harney & Sons.
Please see our "Frequently Asked Questions" section for information on event cancellations, seating requests, and more.

Brian Reid, historian of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club, will talk about the history of ice yachting on the Hudson River and share vintage photos and videos of the historic ice yachts. Ogden Livingston Mills, along with his neighbors the Huntingtons, Newbolds, Rogers and Roosevelts, were avid ice sailors on the waters off Staatsburg and Hyde Park at the turn of the 20th century. Come hear tales of races for 30-foot silk pennants and silver cups, and about the skippers of these unique racing ice yachts.

Staatsburgh Curator, Maria Reynolds, presents new tales of love and heartbreak, marriage, and romance, for a Valentine’s weekend treat! From courtship to love and marriage (with a bit of heartbreak dashed in), hear about the passions and romance of Gilded Age peers and friends of the Mills family.

For more than merely eating food, the Gilded Age dinner table was the supreme accomplishment of a hostess, according to Emily Post in 1922. Beth M. Forrest, Professor of Liberal Arts and Applied Food Studies at the Culinary Institute of America, uses cookbooks, etiquette manuals, and other primary source documents to consider the social expectations of both the host and the guest, from how to choose the menu and set the table, to the proper way to eat your soup.

Join curator Maria Reynolds for a focus on objects in the collections—paintings, ceramics, furniture and architecture—which illustrate the Millses’ love for all things French, a Francophilia they shared with many Gilded Age Americans. This talk will explore the reasons why Staatsburgh resembles a French palace and the different styles the mansion encompasses. After the presentation, there will be a short optional tour in the house to focus on some of the objects on view that were highlighted during the talk.

While a fan of period dramas, Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age, historian and best-selling author Alexis Coe has made a case for inclusion of a more consequential heroine from the period, modelled on Anne Morgan, the daughter of J.P. Morgan, who used her wealth and social clout to effect progressive change for labor and women’s rights among other causes. Building on her recent Town & Country article on Morgan, Coe describes how Morgan chose substantive activism over the leisure of élite society in an age when American women’s roles were undergoing transformation.

Learn about the clothing that a fashionable Gilded Age lady would have worn in this presentation and dressing demonstration. Librarian and historical costumer Caitlin Sheldon will illustrate with fashion plates, historical images, and reproduction garments, all of the pieces of a 19th-century lady's toilette.

During the Gilded Age, American high society embraced all things French — especially when it came to food and entertaining. From opulent balls and banquets to elegant teas and wedding breakfasts, French cuisine reigned supreme. Join Becky Libourel Diamond, food historian and author of The Gilded Age Cookbook, for an engaging talk exploring the fascination with French food during this glamorous era.

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Host or Publisher Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh