Florida Dining: Afternoon Tea at the Flagler Museum

Henry M Flagler Museum
1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach, FL
(561) 655-2833

Aside from being a foodie and technology freak, I’m also a history buff. So when I have the opportunity to combine all three in a single activity, I’m all there.

One of the “do not miss” attractions in Palm Beach without a doubt is the Henry M. Flagler Museum, the former estate of the co-founder of the Standard Oil Company. This majestic estate, also known as Whitehall, built during the height of America’s Gilded Age for Flagler’s third wife, is amazingly preserved and is an incredible sight to behold. But let’s get to that in a later post.

Besides being able to walk through Whitehall and see it as it was in the early 1900’s, you can also indulge in one of the pastimes that the upper class enjoyed at the time — “Low tea” or Afternoon Tea, in the style of the Victorian era and the Gilded Age. The museum offers it starting after the Thanksgiving holiday in its new Pavilion, which opened in 2004. The Pavilion was constructed to house Flagler’s private rail car in order to preserve it from the elements, and also to serve as a on-site restaurant.

The Pavilion overlooks the Intercoastal Waterway in Palm Beach.

Native Florida birds such as this Heron roam the grounds.

The interior of the Pavilion is meant to evoke the architecture of the Victorian and Gilded Age, similar to the Great Exposition halls and railway stations built during the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Would you like to have a civilized afternoon tea like the upper crust had during the Victorian age? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

Henry Morrison Flagler’s private rail car #91, the Victorian and Gilded Age equivalent to a Gulfstream Jet.

The cast iron stove inside the rail car. They don’t boil the tea on this, though.

Service is efficient but non-intrusive.

Tea is served on replica china patterns that were used in Whitehall’s time.

An assortment of Tea Sandwiches and Scones.

A special black tea which is blended exclusively for the museum is used in the Pavilion. It can be purchased at the souvenir shop.

Cream Cheese and Cucumber Sandwich

Pelicans diving for fish outside the Pavilion

Tomato and Black Pepper Mayo Sandwich

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese and Marmelade

Cranberry Scone with Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream

Extreme Scone closeup