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Preferred Citation

Sally Betts Tayloe Diaries and Photoprints, 1855-1863, Accession # 10936, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These two manuscript volumes were purchased from Book Press by the Rare Book Division of the Special Collections Department of the Library on April 4, 1990.

Scope and Content Information

These two manuscript volumes, a travel journal covering September 6-October 10, 1855 and a diary dating July 7-December 12, 1856, were kept by Sally Betts Tayloe of Washington, North Carolina. The last few pages of the travel journal contain poetry about the Potomac and expenses for 1862-1863. Both volumes contain much personal thought concerning the activities mentioned. Much of the writing gives a good view of the social life of a young single woman and her friends. In addition, there are three photographs of Annie Roulhac Sims.

The travel journal is a narrative of Sally's northeastern tour of the United States from September 6-October 10, 1855, with her travelling companions Colonel Roulhac and his daughter Annie, and was apparently written the following autumn (according to the September 3, 1856 entry in her diary). As the travel journal was not written until a year later, some of the places visited are slightly out of sequence. Several days of the week and dates are also inconsistent. On September 6, 1855, they left Raleigh, North Carolina, travelling to Weldon, and then on to Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, taking a steamboat across Aquiner Creek. Daylight on September 7 found them in Washington, D. C., where they rode the omnibus to view the White House, the Capitol, and the Smithsonian Institute. They spent the day in Baltimore, Maryland touring shops, then left for Havre de Grace, where they travelled by boat across the Susquehanna River to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arriving at the Girade [Girard?] House. On September 9, they attended St. Mark's Church before walking through Public Square and taking a boat to Camden and Burlington, New Jersey. A terrible accident a few days previously in Burlington and its effect on the city's inhabitants is mentioned. They changed boats in Jersey City and went on to New York City where they checked into the St. Nicholas, noting its grandeur. The next few days found them touring Broadway--shopping, visiting Becks, Taylors Saloon, Metropolitan Theatre [Opera House?] for "Rachel," and Wallacks Theatre for "The Game of Love." On September 15, they boarded "Alyda," the most elegant boat on the Hudson River. She describes the beauty of the river, mentioning places of interest at Hastings-on-Hudson and Tarrytown, such as the Pallisades and Sunnyside, the home of Washington Irving, and West Point. They stayed several days near West Point, socializing with the cadets ("brass buttons") and touring the monument to General Tadeusz (Andrzej Bonzwentura) Kosciusko and the monument to soldiers who perished in battle. They left on September 17, riding along the Hudson River to Albany, New York, which she describes as beautiful scenery. In Albany, they stayed one night at the Delavan House [named for reformer Edward Cornelius Delavan?], where her southern notions were shocked by all the "white waiting girls being under the control of one great negro man." They spent September 18 in Saratoga, New York, where they visited Congress Hall [Park] and drank from the [Spencer Trask Memorial Foundation] spring. Upon leaving Saratoga on September 19, they travelled to Schenectady and on to Buffalo that night. During the next few days they toured Buffalo, which she calls the "City of Churches," walking through the principal streets and viewing the city from the observatory. They took a boat on Lake Erie [and Lake Ontario] seeing the Old Fort [Niagara] and Niagara falls, and stopping to see the museum and gardens. On September 21, they crossed the suspension bridge between the American and Canadian falls, driving to Goat Island to view the falls. That evening they proceeded to Ogdensberg where they took the steamboat "Jenny Lind" on Lake Ontario; at daylight they switched to a smaller boat to ascend the rapids of the St. Lawrence River toward Montreal, Quebec, Canada. On September 23, there is a description of High Mass at Montreal's Cathedral and the celebration of the "Immaculate Conception" starting at St. Peter's Church and proceeding through St. Catherine's street. The following day they travelled down Lake Champlain-- there is a description along with a brief history of a battle during 1812. They stayed in Rutland, Vermont overnight, travelling to Boston, Massachusetts on September 25. They arrived at the elegant [Paul] Revere House which is described. Their sight-seeing tour brought them to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown; The Boston Common and Faneuil Hall [known as "Cradle of Liberty"] in Boston; and, Mt. Auburn Cemetery and Harvard University in Cambridge. September 28 brings them to Connecticut, seeing the Charter Oak Memorial and the residence of Mrs. [Lydia Howard Huntley] Sigourney in Hartford and the residence of P[hineas] T[aylor] Barnum in Bridgeport, before reaching New Haven, and visiting Yale University. The next day, they took a carriage to East Rock Park where they saw New Haven, West Haven, and Long Island from the outlook; and toured the college buildings. On October 1, they left for New York where they stayed at the St. Nicholas. While there, they went to Broadway and to the Broadway Theatre to see the actor [Edward Loomis] Davenport. On October 5, they took a horse and carriage ride on the banks of the Hudson River, noting the place where the volunteer companies do target shooting; rode to High Bridge on the west side of New York City; and, on their return, saw the Convent of the Sacred Hearts and Chrysler Palace. Their remaining few days in New York were spent seeing more sights. On October 8, they stopped at "Brady's daguerrean gallery" to have a daguerreotype taken, went to Dusseldorf Gallery to admire the paintings of modern art (discussion of the gallery), visited [James] Boyle's studio, and later went to the Broadway Theatre to see the renowned tragedian [Edwin] Forrest in Hamlet . The following two days were concerned with a visit to the "Spirit Rappers" and included is a discussion of their visit with a medium. Sally ends by stating that they returned through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, arriving home on October 12, 1855.

Sally kept a diary from July 7-December 12, 1856 chiefly while staying at "Mt. Airy," Isle of Portsmouth, North Carolina. According to her, she began this journal since her last entry of September 1855. The diary includes much on the social activities of Sally and her friends, especially Annie Roulhac and Sallie Bond, and her family. Throughout the diary she discusses their near daily horseback riding, "surf bathing" in the Atlantic Ocean, serenading and other forms of entertainment, visits to "Gipsy Camp," reading novels, and other social activities. On July 9, she mentions the arrival of the steamers "Pamlico" and "Astoria." On July 12, she is excited that her pony "Kenning Kirkland Kent Ruffin..." left Washington and can be expected shortly. On August 22, she writes about reading aloud to her cousin from Washington Irving's Wolfert's Roost . News of the sale of "Magnolia," the Roulhac family home in Raleigh, came on August 23. Near the end of September, plans are made to return home; and, on October 3, she is home in Washington, North Carolina after three months. She mentions the hard times and the merchants being discouraged. From October 31-December 12, she stayed at Liberty Hall, where Sallie Bond got married on November 25. On December 12, she left Liberty Hall and was met by the horse and buggy in Williamston which carried her home to Washington, North Carolina.