Girls' Dressing Room

his dressing room adjoins the bedchamber of the three youngest Lee daughters, Annie, Agnes and Mildred. It provided ample space for the fashions of the day which included hoop skirts and petticoats. When the Lee children were young, this room also served as a play and storage area for their toys. The china cupboard against the back wall was originally at Mount Vernon and belonged to Nellie Custis, Mr. Custis's sister. The cupboard came to Arlington House when Nellie Custis gave it to her niece, Mary.

	View of Girls Dressing Room from Upper Hall.

This dressing closet also served as a schoolroom. From the age of 11, the Lee girls were expected to help teach the slave children how to read and write. Both Mrs. Custis and her daughter, Mrs. Lee, believed in the importance of reading the Bible and they wanted the slaves to have the ability to do so. Sunday school books on a table in this room are a reminder of those lessons.

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