2024 is a joyous year for the Suffolk Book Club, as members are celebrating 125 years of gathering together to share books and discuss literary topics.
The club celebrated its milestone with a lively tea party at The Dawson House on Wednesday, Sept. 18 filled with delicious sweets and plenty of members dressed to the nines for the occasion. Suffolk Book Club Upcoming President Toni Reynolds briefly discussed the history of the club. Reynolds noted the club was organized in 1899 with the purpose to provide a “regular and congenial gathering of educated Suffolk women.”
“Our first meeting was held at the Suffolk Christian Church parsonage and there were several charter members that would be familiar names to Suffolkians, like Ms. Anna Mary Riddick of Riddick’s Folly and some of the other well known names in the community, like the Dardens, Mrs. Herbert Darden, or Mrs. Wilbur Kilby,” Reynolds said. “And today, even the book club sometimes has a legacy of families of several generations, second and third generation members. So I think that’s a very interesting thing.”