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DANVERS The virtual tea party was held not on the roof of the Jeremiah Page House Wednesday afternoon, as it had been in 1770, but on its lawn.

Lisa Steigerwalt, chairman of the Danvers Historical Society's Tea and History program,came dressedas the tea party's protagonist, Sarah Page. Her guestswere wearing masks and sitting 6 feet apart to avoidthe possible spread of COVID-19. The public was encouraged to dress in their best tea timeattire and raise a cup to Page from home.

That's how the Danvers Historical Society marked the 250th anniversary of Page's famed tea party protest, which occurred up on the roof of the Page Street house three years before the Boston Tea Party in December 1773. The Page House today serves as the historical society's headquarters.

With the British imposing a tax on tea in 1770, Danvers patriot and prominent bricklayer Jeremiah Page made a promise not to drink tea. He told his wife, "None shall drink tea inside my house,"according to Beverly poet Lucy Larcom's famous poem, "A Gambrel Roof."

Sarah Page, not wanting to disobey her husband but still having some tea left over, invited friendsto tea when Jeremiah was away. When she brought them on the roof for a tea party, she famously told them: "Upon a house is not within it."

Sheila Cooke-Kayser, the society's interpreter and education chair,explained Larcom wanted to write a poemto mark thenation's centennial in 1876 and was looking for something different to talk about.Larcom heard the story from her friend, Anne Page, who had lived in the Page House and told her the story of her grandfather, Jeremiah.

In an event broadcast live on Facebook Wednesday, society volunteer Amy Driscoll played a reporter named Peggy Sampsonpretending totravel back in time to meet with Steigerwalt dressed as Sarah Page.

"I daresay, upon a lawn is not within a house," Steigerwalt said. "Had I thought of that earlier, it would have been a much easier thing to have the tea than upon a gambrel roof."

You can watch the tea party and learn more about the Danvers Historical Society atfacebook.com/danvershistory.

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Virtual tea party marks 250th anniversary of rooftop protest - The Salem News