Tea at Trianon: A Fall Festival in a Small Town

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, October 21, 2012

A Fall Festival in a Small Town

Trappe, Maryland.

In days of old, people derived their surnames from a chosen profession. Many affluent and influential people were honored by having towns, counties, and states named after them. Tilghman was named after a powerful family whose members held pivotal roles in the Revolutionary War. Talbot County is named for Lord Baltimore’s sister, Lady Grace Talbot; and Maryland was named to honor Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s wife.

Of course, there are town names whose origins have been lost to history. One such town is Trappe. It sits small and unassuming, nestled between fields of corn and soybeans. Most likely founded in the late 1770s, the town’s naming is an enduring mystery.

One of the more alluring tales of how it acquired its name concerns a French widow who is said to have a somewhat notorious past. She owned a tavern where men would congregate to drink and play cards. Wives anxiously seeking their spouses were often informed that they could be found at “The Trap.”

Others theories include the possibility that the town moniker was derived from a local monastery of Trappist monks from France, or that it was a good location for trapping. Whatever the origins of the name, the town, and its surrounding areas, has sat steadfastly by, never growing to inhabit more than 1,500 people. (Read entire article.)