Ladies Tea at Cowpens National Battlefield

National Park Service News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – DATE: May 18, 2007 CONTACT: Donna Davis, (864) 461-2828

Ladies’ Tea at Cowpens National Battlefield

Cowpens National Battlefield will kick off the summer season with a vignette of a backcountry ladies’ garden tea behind the Robert Scruggs cabin on May 26, 2007 from 10:00 – 3:30. For this free event, park volunteers will demonstrate a typical women’s 19th century pastime, visiting and having tea. While having tea, the ladies will recount stories that had been passed down to them about the Battle of Cowpens.

By the mid-19th century, the evening meal was typically 7:30 or 8:00. Upper class women adopted a small afternoon meal of tea and cakes to tide them over from the noon meal to the evening meal. Because a well laid tea exhibited good breeding and class, lower class people and those from the backcountry tried to mimic the upper class by having afternoon tea. Their teas usually consisted of crusty bread and butter, cheese, jam and muffins or cake. Join us on May 26 to see a typical tea and learn about the Battle of Cowpens.

Cowpens National Battlefield is the site of the American victory over the British on January 17, 1781 and is located 10 miles west of Gaffney, SC, and 3 miles east of Chesnee, SC at the intersection of Highways 11, 110, and 221-A. Visitor Center hours are 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. daily, closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Days. The Robert Scruggs house was not here at the time of the battle, but can be dated to approximately 1830. For more information, call (864) 461-2828 or visit the park’s webpage at www.nps.gov/cowp/.

Ninety miles southeast of Cowpens National Battlefield is Ninety Six National Historic Site, site of the first Revolutionary War battle in the South and of the longest siege of the American Revolution. For more information on Ninety Six National Historic Site, call the park at (864) 543-4068 or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/nisi/.

-NPS-

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