The Finger Bowl Dining Table

Isn't this the most magnificent dining table ever?  It is at Grey Towers in Milford, Pennsylvania and was conceived of by Cornelia Pinchot.

The view above the Finger Bowl

Unbelievably, Grey Towers was a summer home and Cornelia wanted the outside to be an extension of the living space.  She did not have a dining room inside the house and in case of a downpour they ate in the sitting room.

Cornelia had one rule at the Finger Bowl, and that was that guests were forbidden from passing food along the edges.  All dishes must be passed across the water in floating bowls.  How delightful!  Engineers said the table was impossible, but she told them to do it anyway, and look, here it still sits.

It was said Cornelia was "...equally at ease on the picket line with striking workers as she was a gracious hostess at a formal reception."  Oh to go back in time and dine with her.  And what an awesome "someday" idea for our own yard.

If you could time travel where would you like to go for dinner?