F E A T U R E

Gilding the Gilded Age

The Workers behind the Maymont Glitz

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nyone who has ever put on a major event knows the work required to make it successful. Richmond residents James and Sallie Dooley, owners of Maymont estate from 1893-1925, hosted many lavish events at their opulent home on the James River. After a 1906 party attended by more than 300 guests, the News Leader commented, “Richmond’s most exclusive set was well represented and Major

and Mrs. Dooley fully sustained their reputation for elaborate entertaining.” Although Major Dooley enabled the lavish affair through the wealth he amassed

in railroads and other business ventures, the ones who attended to the details made each event successful, and kept the household running daily. Numerous men and women were employed at Maymont as butler, cook, kitchen maid, housemaid, lady’s maid, laundress, estate manager, chauffeur, coachman, and twenty workers to maintain the grounds and stables. The household employees cleaned the 12,000 square-foot mansion, fed seven to twelve people on a daily basis and hundreds on occasion, washed and ironed clothes and linens, helped the Dooleys dress, and performed ceremonial functions such as serving at table and answering the door. While women made up the majority of the staff, men played a significant role. Most were single, but several were married with children. Nearly all were African Americans. As in similar households of the day, Maymont domestic employees typically

worked a 13-hour day and were given one to two afternoons off a week. A few resided in the house or in other buildings on the estate, but most “lived out,” returning to their homes at night. In the summer, some relocated with the Dooleys to Swannanoa. Maymont domestic employees received wages comparable to and in some

instances slightly higher than workers in other upper-class Richmond households. At the same time, the highest paid employee—the butler—earned well below the national standard of living wage. Nevertheless, he and his coworkers took their modest wages beyond the gates of Maymont to raise families, support local businesses and churches, and build their community. For more than 30 years, Maymont witnessed the dynamic interplay between

server and served, working class and upper class, black and white. Only decades removed from the end of the Civil War, both the Dooleys and their household workers experienced the transformation of a master-slave relationship to that of employer-employee. This relationship played out against the backdrop of rapidly changing household technology as well as the social and political climate of an increasingly segregated South.

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APRIL 2010 • Vmagazine for women www•myVmagazine.com