High tea has higher purpose to aid historic preservation

History lovers, here’s your chance to return to a genteel past. A fancy tea is planned for Mother’s Day weekend in one of Everett’s most magnificent old homes. While celebrating the past, tea drinkers will be helping a future historian.

The Historic Everett High Tea, scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. May 11 at the Hartley Mansion, is a fundraiser for the preservation group’s programs and the Margaret Riddle Historic Preservation Scholarship.

“It’s a first,” Historic Everett treasurer Inger Hutton said of the event that will include teas, dainty sandwiches, salad and sweets served on vintage dishes.

Along with a silent auction, the tea will include a talk by Roberta Jonnet, whose grandmother lived in Everett in 1910. That’s the year the Hartley Mansion was built. The neo-classical style house on Rucker Avenue was built for Roland Hartley, an Everett mayor who in 1925 became Washington’s governor.

Tea organizers have found “fabulous china dishes and teapots” at Goodwill, Hutton said. “It’s going to have a very eclectic look,” she said. Among auction items will be artwork, jewelry and Depression glass.

A hat contest is part of the afternoon, for those brave enough to don the finery of bygone days.

Andrea Tucker, Historic Everett’s vice president, said the group is working this year on the Lowell neighborhood’s 150th birthday celebration. Also being planned is the 2013 Historic Home Tour, scheduled for September.

And applications are being accepted for this year’s recipient of the Margaret Riddle Historic Preservation Scholarship.

The 2012 winner of the $1,000 scholarship was Michelle Van Meter, an Everett High School graduate. Historic preservation is among her studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Tucker said.

Riddle worked more than 30 years as a history specialist at the Everett Public Library before retiring in 2008. Historic Everett established the scholarship in her name specifically for students aiming at work in preservation, archiving, architecture or other history-related fields.

“I did feel honored to have it named after me,” Riddle said Thursday. She has written many essays about Snohomish County history for the Seattle-based HistoryLink website, including a cyber tour of the Everett waterfront.

Riddle also continues her involvement with the Snohomish County Women’s Legacy Project, which tells stories of women who made significant contributions to this community. The project Riddle helped launch years ago is still collecting stories through the League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations.

She applauds volunteers who work on historic preservation, but Riddle hopes the scholarship fosters careers. Riddle is encouraged that after she retired from the Everett Public Library, her position was filled. The library has two history specialists, David Dilgard and Lisa Labovitch.

“Volunteers are wonderful. We also need to keep alive the idea that you pay people to do this. It’s very important to encourage students,” Riddle said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

High tea to help Historic Everett

The Historic Everett High Tea will be 2 to 4 p.m. May 11 at the Hartley Mansion, 2320 Rucker Ave., Everett. Proceeds will benefit the Margaret Riddle Historic Preservation Scholarship and Historic Everett programs. Cost is $50, or $40 for Historic Everett members. A limited number of tickets available at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/349631 or by calling Andrea Tucker, 425-870-6699.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.