The Servants' Quarters

The James J Hill House in St Paul is one of the first mansions built in Minnesota. We took a tour of the house today because I wanted to get a photo to help describe the book Longbourn for the book club challenge.
Longbourn by Jo Baker takes us "downstairs" and tells the stories of the servants who worked behind the scenes in Pride and Prejudice. as the author imagines them. This is a fun light read. After reading Longbourn and especially the author's notes at the end I went back and quickly read through Pride and Prejudice. It was fun to see how the two stories matched up.

The James J Hill House is a beautiful home, now owned by the Minnesota Historical Society. I took many photos of the "upstairs" with the beautifully carved woodwork and chandeliers. I was hoping to get an interesting photo of the kitchen or the servants' quarters but they were just empty rooms. This is the call system that was used when a family member would ring a bell to call a servant. The smaller buttons on the lower section were part of an elaborate security system with alarms on the doors and windows. The Hill's were a family with nine children when they moved into this mansion. I am sure the servants were kept busy taking care the house, laundry, cooking, serving, etc., of this household back in the day.