My recipe explorations have exposed me to a fair amount of lifestyles of the wealthy, but this week’s family really takes the cake.
Charlotte and Clifford Truesdell were known for dressing formally for dinner – Clifford in “lace collars and cuffs” and Charlotte in evening gowns, according to the Baltimore Sun Magazine in 1978.
Clifford swore that they were not putting on airs but were “attempting to uphold the dignity of man.” The Truesdells preferred formality in their lives. “It imposes order,” Sun writer Frederic Kelly paraphrased.
The couple’s Guilford home, which they called “Il Palazzetto,” was filled with walnut paneling, gold gilding, and fine art (including many nudes of Mrs. Truesdell).