Caroline Astor's Ballroom Story

Believe it or not, we've got one more brand new Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast for 2021. Look for it on January 31.

But for today we wanted to give you another sampling of our new spin-off podcast called The Gilded Gentleman, a look at America's Gilded Age period, hosted by social and culinary historian Carl Raymond.

In this new episode, Carl looks at one of the most legendary figures of the period – Caroline Astor, or the Mrs Astor, the ruler and creator of New York’s Gilded Age high society in the early 1870s. In collaboration with Southern social climber Ward McAllister, Astor essentially created the rules for who was 'acceptable' in New York social circles.

But she's also known for her battles with family members -- most notably with her nephew (and next door neighbor) William Waldorf Astor. What was behind her unusual motivations? And in what unusual way did she decide to cap her legacy at the end of her life?

Carl is joined by Tom Miller, creator of the website Daytonian in Manhattan, documenting the history of New York City, one building at a time.

Subscribe to the Gilded Gentleman now and you’ll get ANOTHER new episode on the life of Murray Hall, a Tammany Hall politician and operator of an employment agency for domestic help in the late 19th century.

But Murray had a secret – one that he took to his grave. A remarkable story and one we think will move you.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys