#gilded age

[lindaseccaspina]

Figures of the Golden Age- Appleton- Teskey

Mississippi River, Appleton, photo by Malak Karsh-1945-1946 Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada Credits: North Lanark Regional Museum (2012.79.12.26)Photographer: Malak Karsh Donated by Eleanor Wright & Irene Dunn Thompson Appleton: Where the Teskeys Put the River to Work Long before Appleton became the peaceful little Mississippi River community we know today, it had a…

Figures of the Golden Age- Appleton- Teskey

[bignaz8]

In the golden age of the river, the grandest steamboats that tied up at the St. Louis levee were not just transportation. They were floating palaces. Step aboard one of the great packets in the 1870s and you entered a world of crystal chandeliers, stained glass skylights and white and gold woodwork carved as delicate as lace.

The heart of these boats was the grand saloon, a long central cabin that ran nearly the whole length of the vessel, lined with staterooms and set with plush carpet and fine tables. Here passengers dined on lavish meals, danced to live music, and gambled the miles away as the Mississippi slid past outside. Owners competed to outdo each other in luxury, because a reputation for elegance filled the staterooms and the crowds gathered on the St. Louis wharf to gawk at the finest of them.

It was a glittering, fleeting world, one that faded as railroads stole the traffic and the great boats burned, sank or were simply left to rot. But for a few decades, the levee at St. Louis welcomed some of the most beautiful moving spaces ever built in America. When people say they do not build them like they used to, the floating palaces of the Mississippi are exactly what they mean.

[arwenlalaith]

Pink Satin Slippers (I Have Locked My Heart Away) 7/7

Ship: Bertha Russell/George Russell, Bertha Russell/OFC

Summary: The chinks in the armor surrounding their marriage have begun to spread - cracks appearing, growing, threatening collapse entirely - the fine iron and steel now abraded and corroded. What once seemed a glimmering hopeful promise has now lost its shine. And maybe if she weren't so stubborn it would be easier to stop looking for a reflection of something she isn't certain ever existed in its once polished surface.

Created for the @gildedagecreatorscotillion: a series of Artist Trading Cards and poems.

Day 1: The Gardens of Newport Day 2: Secret Affair Day 3: Aboard the Yacht Day 4: My Mind is Made Up Day 5: A Night at the Metropolitan Day 6: I Didn't Expect to See You Here Day 7: A Journey Out West

Bertha knows all too well she soon must decide whether it's no longer viable to remain George's bride. Too long they've been playing this game of love chicken, but the heart of the matter is he makes her heart quicken. And then there's the subject of her young paramour… The question remains: which of them does her heart really adore?

[arwenlalaith]

Pink Satin Slippers (I Have Locked My Heart Away) 6/7

Ship: Bertha Russell/George Russell, Bertha Russell/OFC

Summary: The chinks in the armor surrounding their marriage have begun to spread - cracks appearing, growing, threatening collapse entirely - the fine iron and steel now abraded and corroded. What once seemed a glimmering hopeful promise has now lost its shine. And maybe if she weren't so stubborn it would be easier to stop looking for a reflection of something she isn't certain ever existed in its once polished surface.

Created for the @gildedagecreatorscotillion: a series of Artist Trading Cards and poems.

Day 1: The Gardens of Newport Day 2: Secret Affair Day 3: Aboard the Yacht Day 4: My Mind is Made Up Day 5: A Night at the Metropolitan Day 6: I Didn't Expect to See You Here

It's been many long months now, she's fallen in love with a beautiful angel who's been sent from above, an elegant dancer from the City's Ballet. It's late in December, the one fateful day George returns to New York seeking her mercy, pleading his misdeeds had been that of Circe.

[arwenlalaith]

Pink Satin Slippers (I Have Locked My Heart Away) 5/7

Ship: Bertha Russell/George Russell, Bertha Russell/OFC

Summary: The chinks in the armor surrounding their marriage have begun to spread - cracks appearing, growing, threatening collapse entirely - the fine iron and steel now abraded and corroded. What once seemed a glimmering hopeful promise has now lost its shine. And maybe if she weren't so stubborn it would be easier to stop looking for a reflection of something she isn't certain ever existed in its once polished surface.

Created for the @gildedagecreatorscotillion: a series of Artist Trading Cards and poems.

Day 1: The Gardens of Newport Day 2: Secret Affair Day 3: Aboard the Yacht Day 4: My Mind is Made Up Day 5: A Night at the Metropolitan

A glittering evening comes to fruition. a gleaming gold emblem of Bertha's ambition. She's never once stopped to let herself cry, perhaps her marriage had all been a lie. Tonight, though, she's lost in the beauty of dance… She doesn't know yet, she'll soon find romance.

[arwenlalaith]

Pink Satin Slippers (I Have Locked My Heart Away) 4/7

Ship: Bertha Russell/George Russell, Bertha Russell/OFC

Summary: The chinks in the armor surrounding their marriage have begun to spread - cracks appearing, growing, threatening collapse entirely - the fine iron and steel now abraded and corroded. What once seemed a glimmering hopeful promise has now lost its shine. And maybe if she weren't so stubborn it would be easier to stop looking for a reflection of something she isn't certain ever existed in its once polished surface.

Created for the @gildedagecreatorscotillion: a series of Artist Trading Cards and poems.

Day 1: The Gardens of Newport Day 2: Secret Affair Day 3: Aboard the Yacht Day 4: My Mind is Made Up

Bertha O'Brien made it a point in her life to want to be more than somebody's wife. The day she comes home to find him half-drowned is the day that she finally puts her foot down. He's been distant and angry, bitter and cruel… She's not going to stay and be made a fool.

[arwenlalaith]

Pink Satin Slippers (I Have Locked My Heart Away) 3/7

Ship: Bertha Russell/George Russell, Bertha Russell/OFC

Summary: The chinks in the armor surrounding their marriage have begun to spread - cracks appearing, growing, threatening collapse entirely - the fine iron and steel now abraded and corroded. What once seemed a glimmering hopeful promise has now lost its shine. And maybe if she weren't so stubborn it would be easier to stop looking for a reflection of something she isn't certain ever existed in its once polished surface.

Created for the @gildedagecreatorscotillion: a series of Artist Trading Cards and poems.

Day 1: The Gardens of Newport Day 2: Secret Affair Day 3: Aboard the Yacht

People 'round town all know his misdeeds, though the truth of the matter has been lost in the weeds. He's gallavanting around, no thought of his wife, the fate of their marriage on the blade of a knife. At least, that's the excuse so he might misbehave, soon he's drunken and stumbling, then lost 'mongst the waves…

[thatsrightjohngoodman]

I've been participating in the Gilded Age Creators Cotillion for 2026!

Here are the links to all of the stories part of the collection. Here are all of my stories. I'm not normally one for...self-promotion but I've been having a good time and wanted to share. Thank you to the organizers. I'll update these links as stories are posted. xx

July 20th: The Prompt — The Gardens of Newport, The Story — Garden Folly

July 21st: The Prompt — Secret Affair, The Story — Otherwise Engaged

July 22nd: The Prompt — Aboard the Yacht, The Story — At Sea

July 23rd: The Prompt — "My Mind is Made Up" — Body Talk

July 24th: The Prompt — A Night at the Metropolitan — La Traviata

July 25th: The Prompt — I Didn't Expect To See You Here — Westward

July 26th: The Prompt — A Journey Out West