The Connection

"Oh my goodness, I can see your elbows," Martha Washington said to Mary "Peggy" White who attended the Sunday afternoon tea at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town. "Come up here. We must get you dressed at once." Martha picked up the latticed stays and wrapped them around White to make her waist appear smaller. "It's a man's world. We will lace this and pull it tighter. If you say you can still breathe, I'll pull it tighter."

She turned to inspect White: "When did you take your last bath?" Martha explained a woman wore her tunic (which goes over the petticoats) for eight days and slept in it at night before washing it. An apron goes on top of the coat and a large white kerchief over the shoulders. "And all of these layers are hot," Martha added, pulling out her fan. It takes her about an hour to get herself dressed including the short white wig nearly matching the large white ruffled cap with a bright blue band.

Martha held up the interchangeable shoes. "I don't know how they did this — no left or right shoe." Martha looked down at White's feet. "I don't know what you're wearing dear. I can see your toes."

Bonnie Fairbank, who has been appearing as Martha Washington since 1976, has reenacted this role at many local schools, conventions, parties and special events, traveled to Australia, London and attended several White House Ladies teas. She says school children in other countries are fascinated by American history, much more than U.S. children. "You could hear a pin drop in the Australian classrooms." And the White House appearances included the Reagans, Clintons and Bushes, all very gracious but, "Barbara Bush loved it. She wanted to know how she could get a dress like mine." Fairbank said Tuesday she will be in Colonial Williamsburg, Thursday in Middleburg and Thursday back in D.C. at the Renaissance Hotel.

The afternoon tea is filled with young girls, ribbons winding through braids and small heels matching flowered dresses. Fairbank explained Girl Scouts often attend these teas because "they can earn a little history badge." Others bring their daughters for birthdays or other special occasions. Sometimes a man attends but not very often.

They are having black tea, the most expensive kind. "Martha was determined to show she wasn't a country bumpkin so she only served the finest, most expensive," Fairbank said. Accompanying the tea were china plates filled with bites of pound cake. "Martha used a pound of butter, a pound of sugar and a pound of flour." The cake was sprinkled with dried fruit and surrounded with small sweet puffs. "Stand up please." Girls popped out of their chairs. “Clasp your hands in front of you at your waist, and gracefully bend into a curtsy. And not so much noise please. Children are meant to be seen and not heard."

Fairbank has also appeared as Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and "oh I almost forgot. I just love to be Mrs. Claus." Fairbank said she never says no and it's amazing how one job leads to another. But, "I like Martha the best. I want to bring her to life. I want people to know her." Fairbank said she has had to do a lot of reading and it is a constant learning experience because there wasn't much written back and forth between Martha and George. "Recently someone attended one of my events whose father's father's father's ...... was related to George Washington and could tell me some things I didn't know."

As a girl she never thought she would do this, "but I do love history and I have been dancing since I was three. I still tap dance. Put on the music and I go." She continued, "I've always been in show business. I was a New York Rockette years ago but it was a stigma back then."

"One cube or two? Do you have your diaper?" It turns out this is a napkin or serviette. The tea etiquette continued as young faces follow her around the room. "If you know how to partake of tea, you are a genteel lady."

This story has been updated.