10/05/2026
in 1864, Part 2
Mary Boykin Chesnut continues to write in her diary:
“An immense crowd it was—men, women, and children. The crowd overflowed the house, the President’s hand was nearly shaken off.”
Mary was at the back of the house,
(Today , The General Chesnut Suite)
her mind focused on the dinner to be prepared for the president - with mere confederate rations , she said , that took her a month to gather.
But on that day , she writes ,
“The patriotic public had come to the rescue. I had been gathering what I could of eatables for a month, and now I found that nearly everybody in Columbia was sending me whatever they had they thought nice enough for the President’s dinner:
60 year old Madeira from Mulberry;
the beautiful old china;
Mrs McCord sent a magnificent bouquet;
Mrs. Preston sent a b***d turkey stuffed with truffles;
stuffed tomatoes;
stuffed peppers;
Each made a dish as pretty as it was appetizing.”
Today, and more than 160 years later,
how fitting that Chesnut Cottage Inn remains the place where guests are welcomed with the same spirit of care and hospitality,
And where guests are offered
the very best of what we have,
just as it did in 1864.
