Outside the Goodman Library, kids dressed as princesses and spooks were gearing up for downtown Napa’s Halloween parade.

Inside, a festive group of women decked out in fur neck pieces, lacy dresses and feathered hats were taking a trip back in time. For the next two hours they would be Victorian ladies at tea.

“I think this is just hysterical,” said Adelle Iverson Payne, a spritely 90-year-old who knows a thing or two about how earlier generations practiced gracious living.

Payne had organized the tea for her daughter, Karen Wendel, a resident of Germany who had just retired from teaching.

The week before, Wendel’s friends had feted her at Fosters Freeze, a popular 50s-themed hangout. Wendel would now sample a moment in Napa’s cultural history before fast food.

From 1902 until the late 1950s, the Goodman Library, then Napa’s only public library, maintained a tea room where women and others could drop in for afternoon refreshment. There was a billiard room in back for the gents.

When the Napa County Historical Society moved back into the refurbished Goodman building last spring, Kristie Sheppard, the society’s executive director, made restoration of the tea room a priority.

It’s a fun way of educating the public about Napa history, Sheppard said. When you’re sitting in a century-old parlor, sipping tea in China cups and munching on dainty sandwiches, yesteryear comes alive, she said.

Sheppard more than does her part. Dressed up as a Victorian parlor maid, she drops in tidbits about the Victorian lifestyle while pouring tea.

The party for Wendel was the Historical Society’s third tea since the reopening of the tea room by reservation. Members of the Red Hat Society had paid a visit, as had a Napa woman celebrating birthdays with her 7-year-old granddaughter.

“I encourage people to dress up. It just gets them more in the spirit,” Sheppard said.

Kristin McMillan, one of Wendel’s best friends from childhood, was wearing a fur that Payne had fished out of a trunk that morning. “I think it’s fox,” she said.

“I knew the lady that was the head of the tea room,” Payne said. “I can still see her coming to the tea room in her white hat and gloves.”

As a young woman, Payne worked across the street at J.C. Penney’s. She would bring her sack lunch to the library. “She made it elegant by serving tea for us,” she said.

Wendel and her husband Helmut were greeted with cries of “surprise” when they came in the back door. Since the library’s billiard room is no more, McMillan gave Helmut a gift certificate to Billco’s Billiard Parlor. He was expected to entertain himself while the ladies partied.

After Wendel was outfitted with a hat, long white gloves and a fur, the tea began. Sheppard served tiny triangle sandwiches — white bread, crust removed — with traditional cucumber, tomato and jam fillings. She poured tea from antique pots.

As part of her Victorian lifestyle presentation, Sheppard talked about courting rituals and the reason why a proper Victorian lady lifted her cup with pinkie extended (it helps with balance).

McMillan remembered the Goodman Library as an imposing building when she was a girl. Viewed through adult eyes, “it’s just a dinky little place,” she said.

During the festivities, Payne presented her daughter with an autograph book for everyone to sign. Please, no “roses are red, violets are blue, you have a nose like a B-52,” Wendel said.

Looking out the window, Wendel saw hundreds of adults and children in costume streaming down First Street. “They’re even having a parade for me,” she said.

Wendel proposed that she and her Victorian-garbed friends join the parade. “We’d freak them out,” she said.

The party closed with petit fours and more tea. Payne was radiant at being able to celebrate her daughter’s retirement in such style. “I got a kick out of it,” she said.

The Historical Society charges $10 per person for teas (members get a $2 discount). They are a creative way to celebrate birthdays, bridal showers, family gatherings or an afternoon with friends, Sheppard said.

The society is looking for volunteers who would like dress up as parlor maids and make the past come alive.