Legend has it that Clara May Downey discovered the site of the Olney Inn when she got a flat tire near the 1875 Montgomery County farmhouse. It was the mid-1920s and Downey was considering following many women into the business of operating a tearoom. Instead of a dainty tearoom catered towards women, Downey’s restaurant (it…
During the holiday season, apple toddy was most often mentioned alongside eggnog.
Baltimore’s Front Street Theatre had undergone “extensive alterations and improvements” in 1850. Carpenters Carnan & Eckert built out a parquet for standing room theatergoers. “Skillful” painter John Delpher was hired to apply a fresh coat of paint. New curtains were hung, and 600 cushioned seats with spring-backs were installed. A decade and a half later,…
Among the recipes in 19th century cookbooks, you’ll often find advertisements for hats and gloves, ovens, groceries, jewelry, horse accessories and more. Between the ads and the recipes, you could get a sense of a gilded life in the city, full of consumer longing and delicious viands. What is easy to forget- especially with the…
When I made Elizabeth Ellicott Lea’s French Rolls, I wrote a lot about the historical puzzles of flour and yeast. Despite her wealthy background, Lea’s culinary style is fairly rural. Her book contains a lot of information on bread baking, calling bread “the most important article of food.” She included instructions for baking bread in…