Dating back to the 19th century May breakfast had been a New England tradition. Today's story is about the women of the Phelps family in an un-specified community in Connecticut. It centers around Elizabeth Phelps Bradley the leader of her towns may breakfast brigade. Rhoda Cameron, a retired actress from Louisiana, is the WPA project writer who collected and documented the story which is housed in the archives of the US Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
For the body of the breakfast Elizabeth Phelps Bradley planned platters of fried chicken, ham and eggs, with golden brown mashed potato cakes, and kernel corn pancakes which her mother and grandmother had made famous. Her table would also include Hot breads—muffins, popovers; and for the older members of the congregation who still retain the taste of the New England ancestry, dozens of fried and baked apple pies. And from the beginning to the end of the meal, coffee would be served from Elizabeth’s great copper body wash boiler, coffee made from the blend which Elizabeth herself perfected by long experimentation.
