The 51 House

Not content with the men being the only ones to protest the British monarch, Penelope Barker organized for fifty one women to meet at the house of Elizabeth King and sign their names to a document pledging to boycott British goods. Unlike the men who participated in the Boston tea party disguised as Native Americans, the women of the Edenton Tea Party signed their real names to the document and mailed it to England, proud to stand up and defend their country in one of the first political acts by women in the new nation. The defiant act of those fifty one women meeting in that house to protest unjust rule inspires us today. We pay homage to their bravery and boldness with the naming of The 51 House in their honor.


“We are signing our names to a document, not hiding ourselves behind costumes like the men in Boston did at their tea party. The British will know who we are.”
—Penelope Barker