On “The Gilded Table”

From “The Gilded Table: Recipes and Table History from the Campbell House.” Beautifully written, with terrific photographs, the book features lovely dishes and glassware, including a stunning Campbell family fish platter that is nearly 3 feet in length!

Table Service and Dinner Decorum

The arrangement of seating at the table was never left to chance. Great thought was given to the importance of each guest— where each person was placed indicated their importance. Protocol mandated the host and hostess at most tables sat at either end. Virginia generally sat at the north end of the table, facing towards the butler’s pantry door where the servants would enter. It also afforded her a fuller view of the entire dining room. Within close reach was the dining room’s bell pull, used to call servants from the kitchen.


Honored guests, high-ranking officials, or one's age could determine where the hostess placed her guests at her table. The gentleman of honor was seated at the right of the hostess; the ranking lady was placed at the right of the host. The next important or favored guests were seated at the host's and hostess's left. These seating arrangements, alternating ladies and gentlemen, continued down the table until the places were filled. Guests who found themselves seated in the middle of the table were of least importance but nonetheless were generally happy to have a place at the table.


On one occasion while hosting President Grant during her husband’s absence, Virginia was reported as having sat President Grant at the end of the Campbell table. Another account that appeared years later in an 1888 newspaper recollection reported Mrs. Campbell at an 1868 dinner party as having sat center at one side of the table with General Grant on her right hand. No other reference placed Virginia or her guest of honor at the table’s center, bringing this account into question considering the strict etiquette of the day.— From “The Gilded Table: Recipes and Table History from the Campbell House,” by Suzanne Corbett, 2015

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