Smith College student tells tale of early 1900s Rose Tree Inn in Northampton
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NORTHAMPTON - The photo shows a middle-aged woman with gray hair, dressed in a mannish-looking dark suit and tie paired with a stark white shirt. She stands with her hands in her jacket pockets, looking off to the side. Nearby is a sign that reads Ye Rose Tree Inn.
Her name was Anna de Naucaze, and the inn she co-owned from 1908 to 1923 stood at 252 Bridge St.
The story behind the inn - which now houses Duffy Tire Service - and its owner will be the subject of a talk Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Carroll Room at the Smith College Campus Center.
The speakers will be Elizabeth Kent, a Smith senior from Wrentham who researched the story, and Bet Power of Northampton, director of the Sexual Minorities Archives, a multimedia collection of materials related to the history of LGBT people in the U.S.
Although nearly 90 years have passed since Ye Rose Tree Inn closed its doors, aspects of its story resonate today. It offers insights into what Northampton was like at the time, and what has changed and what has not.
It involves a conflict between Smith College and a local business. At the center of that conflict stood an independent woman - some called her eccentric - who pushed the gender boundaries of her day.
"We want to share it with others," Power said of the story.
In its day, the inn seems to have been a rather bohemian place, Power said. It served afternoon teas, lunches and dinners and was a popular gathering spot, especially for women, including many Smith students, Power said. And to many of them, Anna de Naucaze, born in Europe and educated in Paris, was a fascinating figure.
"All Smith is crazy over the Rose Tree Inn," wrote Smith student Agnes Betts in a letter kept at the Smith College Archives, which Betts sent to her mother in 1916.
"There is a mystery surrounding her," Betts wrote of de Naucaze, "and she has short gray hair and never wears anything but a suit and white stiff collars just like a man and never takes her coat off. No one knows whether it is a man or woman."
Adding to the mystery, Power said, were rumors that de Naucaze had come to Northampton after "fleeing justice" elsewhere.
Power, who moved to Northampton in 1978, said he had heard de Naucaze's name mentioned from time to time over the years. Her story, though, had not been explored in depth until Kent tackled it during an internship at the Sexual Minorities Archives.
"She's a real history detective," Power said of Kent, "and there was all this rich history in our institutions right here."
Tea room era
Kent, who is majoring in the study of women and gender, said her research took her to Forbes Library, Historic Northampton and the Smith College Archives. To produce her 65-page paper, she searched through old copies of the Daily Hampshire Gazette on microfilm at Forbes and of the Springfield Union on microfilm at Mount Holyoke College's Williston Library.
"Anna de Naucaze's story is incredible for her time period," Kent said. "I feel so lucky to have been able to uncover her history and educate others about her."
Kent said de Naucaze struck her as a woman who probably enjoyed being an object of mystery and speculation. "She didn't want to give her whole life story to people," Kent said.
Although it was called an inn, Power said, the Rose Tree didn't house overnight guests, but was one of a number of tea rooms in town. "They were a social phenomenon" of their day, Power said, an alternative to bars that served alcohol. "They were mostly a female venue, but men certainly weren't barred."
Power said de Naucaze came to this area from New York with Marie Von Veltheim, who was a portrait painter - and a good cook. The pair ran the inn together. There seems little doubt, Power and Kent said, that they were romantically involved.
In addition to her work at the inn, de Naucaze was the founder, editor and publisher of a monthly general interest magazine, titled 4All, that put out 14 issues, at 15 cents apiece, from 1910 to 1912. Many pieces by de Naucaze appear in the magazine, Power said.
She also never hesitated to speak her mind in letters to the editor of the Gazette, Power said, weighing in on issues such as the financial struggles of the Academy of Music, the speeding traffic on Bridge Street, and taxes, which she deemed too high.
"She loved ideas and opinions, especially her own," Power said.
From 1908 on, the inn seems to have done a brisk business, but Power said things got complicated after William Allan Neilson became Smith's president in 1917.
Neilson apparently disliked de Naucaze, Power said, and the inn came under increasing scrutiny. College officials said students were being allowed to smoke and drink there, and an article to that effect appeared in a Boston newspaper. In a rebuttal in the Gazette, de Naucaze denied the charges, according to Power, but the damage had been done.
Inn's demise
Back then, the college had the authority to approve where students could go off campus, and Ye Rose Tree Inn was stricken from the list. Business declined, and the inn closed in 1923.
Although exactly what was going on at the Rose Tree isn't entirely clear, Power said his own hunch is that the root of the problem was that "whatever was happening was out of the college's control." Beyond that, Power said he believes it's likely that an underlying agenda might have been de Naucze's ambiguous sexuality and same-sex relationships.
"Stories of our LGBT Ancestors: Anna de Naucaze and Ye Rose Tree Inn" is a benefit for the Sexual Minorities Archives. General admission is $10, $5 for seniors and students.
A selection of sweets, similar to those that might have been served at the inn, will be available, said Power, who promised that the event will conclude in time for the Super Bowl.
