The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown and Fairview Public Library will collaborate on a program focused on women’s suffrage Saturday, April 30.
“Tea Time with Emma,” a classic afternoon tea with sweets, sandwiches and yes, Earl Grey tea, will start at 3 p.m. at Stick in the Mud in the Bussy Building on Margaretville’s Main Street. Those attending will meet Emma Keeney (above left), a local boarding house proprietor, who was a Margaretville activist in the movement to achieve the right to vote for women.
Emma will be portrayed by Connie Jeffers (above right), who will exhort participants to encourage their political representatives to allow women the right to vote in local, state and national elections.
Prior to the tea, the acclaimed film “Suffragette,” starring Meryl Streep, will be screened at 1 p.m. at Fairview Library next door to the Bussy Building.
Both film and tea are by reservation only: $25 for both, $20 for tea alone. Call 845-586-2860 by April 25 to claim your seats.
Scones, sandwiches and biscuits will be served by hostess Lizzie Douglas at this “suffrage tea” at Stick in the Mud, patterned after a fundraising event from 1914.
Connie Jeffers of Margaretville will portray Emma Keeney, the proprietor of Meadowbrook Farm and boarding house, who was a noted activist in the women’s suffrage movement from 1914 to 1917, when New York State granted women the right to vote three years before the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution made this the law of the land in 1920.
Meadowbrook Farm was a well-known and popular tourist haunt on South Side Road, Margaretville where Emma hosted monthly meetings of the Margaretville Equal Suffrage Club.
For more information on this program, call 845-586-4973
Emma Keeney, 1903
Connie Jeffers, aka Emma Keeney