Olive "Polly" Barker: A Woman of Independent Spirit

See www.BarkersOfBranford.com for details.

Olive “Polly” Barker was an entrepreneur ahead of her time. Her father Llewellyn reported on her activities throughout the years in his diary.

Below is the first diary entry when Olive was 21.

“Olive’s extracts, perfumes, etc. came by freight. She and Dell (Olive’s mother)took them out and arranged them to deliver.” 11/11/1908

A few years later, Olive switched from selling perfumes to the latest fashion, silk stockings.

“Olive is selling stockings and is doing well.” 9/21/1914

“Olive went down to Short Beach selling hosiery.” 11/6/1914

In 1917, Olive saw that tea rooms had become popular and yet there were none in Branford. The New Haven Register (NHR) announced the change.

“A tea room in Branford is hailed with pleasure, and the shore people who have asked for that very thing for years, will welcome the innovation when they arrive. Miss Barker will double the capacity of her present Craft shop, and run the tea room in connection with the crafts” 4/18/1917

The grand opening is described the following month.

“Thursday afternoon was the formal opening of the Polly Tea-room and Crafts, something novel for the town of Branford. It is fitted up in vine covered trellis work. The sign swings from in front of the shop inviting all to enter and be refreshed…Tea and homemade cookies were served to about a hundred ladies who dropped in. Branford and the shore resorts were all represented, and now Polly is all ready to put the kettle on at any moment.” (NHR)

Her father, being the only man present at the opening, had his own tongue-in-cheek take on the event.

“Olive’s reception was a success. 85 women took tea & 1 man. The other men probably were at home cooking supper for the family.” 5/24/1917

The following excerpt from The Oxford Companion To American Food And Drink provides some context.

“In the early twentieth century, the afternoon tea custom spread to hotels, department stores, and small tearooms. Tearooms, many run by women, peaked in popularity in the 1920’s, a decade in which the national outlawing of alcoholic beverages stimulated both tea and coffee drinking in public eating places.”

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Ted Braun's book "The Barkers of Branford: Life in America Through a Local Lens" is available for $30 at the Blackstone Library in Branford. Details at www.BarkersOfBranford.com