In collaboration with Fairfield Museum and History Center at 370 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will present The Mansion’s Gilded Age Tea on Sunday, May 19, 2024, 2-4 p.m.

Co-chaired by LMMM Trustees Tatiana Mendoza and Kathy Olsen, this event will feature luxurious tea refreshments, a silent auction, a hat contest, and a fascinating exploration of Fairfield Museum’s exhibit titled, “Money Talks: The Gilded Age in Fairfield.”

Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. and tickets are $60 for members and $65 for non-members (for both museums) available to purchase online at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mansions-gilded-age-tea-tickets-814146362687?aff=oddtdtcreator. Proceeds will benefit LMMM’s and Fairfield Museum’s educational and cultural programs.

The exhibition will explore Immigrant labor and innovative businessmen; domestic servants; wealthy vacationers; growing public need and local benefactors. Dichotomies characterize the Gilded Age in Fairfield. The “Gilded Age” (1865-1912) was a period of immense growth in America known for lavish expressions of wealth and cavernous class distinctions. In 1873, Mark Twain gave the era its name with the novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Tremendous social and economic changes could also be found in Fairfield—changes that would not have been possible without the working class supporting the grand lifestyle of the upper classes.

This exhibition presents the industrialists, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs who summered in the Fairfield area, including P.T. Barnum, Annie Burr and Oliver Gould Jennings, Dr. Ira DeVer Warner, and Jonathan and Harriet V.S. Thorne, alongside the people who made their lifestyles possible. Money Talks: The Gilded Age in Fairfield is on view at the Fairfield Museum and History Center through June 16, 2024.

About the Fairfield Museum and History Center

Fairfield Museum and History Center, located at 370 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT, is a vibrant nexus of community life offering dynamic family programs and exhibitions, sparking dialogue and deliberating the challenges of the future. Central to our community-focused mission is a desire to provide important historical context to pressing issues of our time, and to offer a safe, trustworthy environment where multiple perspectives can be heard, and collective solutions explored. www.fairfieldhistory.org or call (203) 259-1598.

LMMM’s 2024 programs are made possible in part by LMMM’s Founding Patrons: The Estate of Mrs. Cynthia Clark Brown; LMMM’s Leadership Patrons: The Sealark Foundation; and LMMM’s 2024 Season Distinguished Benefactors: The City of Norwalk, The Maurice Goodman Foundation, and Lockwood-Mathews Foundation, Inc. For more information on tours and programs, please visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, email [email protected], or call 203-838-9799.

The Mansion’s Gilded Age Tea is Sponsored by:

The Mansion’s Gilded Age Tea is catered by: