A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and IndustriesHudson, J. Paul
History
A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries
Hudson, J. Paul
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Virginia in the seventeenth century was a woodsman's paradise, and there
is every reason to believe that most of the furniture used in Jamestown
houses was made by colonial cabinetmakers. In the forests grew
magnificent specimens of oak, walnut, pine, cypress, cedar, maple, and
many other varieties; and although contemporary records are scanty, it
is believed that the "James Citty" furniture makers made skillful use of
such woods. William Strachey, who reached Jamestown in 1610, wrote that
the church furniture was made of cedar and black walnut:
It [the church] is in length threescore foote, in breadth twenty foure,
and shall have a chancell in it of cedar, and a communion table of blake
walnut, and all the pewes of cedar, ... a pulpet of the same, with a
font hewen hollow, like a canoa....
In spite of the fact that few records exist regarding the kinds of
furniture made in the seventeenth century by Virginia cabinetmakers, the
pieces extant reveal that the English styles were followed closely.
While it is true that the wealthy planters imported some ornamented
furniture from London, much of their furniture was made on the
plantations. It is believed that practically all furniture used by the
yeomen settlers was locally made.
[Illustration: A Jamestown Cabinetmaker At Work
_Conjectural sketch_]
[Illustration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._
Tools Unearthed At Jamestown Which Were Used by Coopers, Carpenters, And
Furniture Makers
Shown are gouges, augers, chisels, bits and hammers; an adze,
hewing-axe, punch, race-knife, scriber, and wedge. All were hand wrought
during the seventeenth century.]
The Box-Maker and Vehicles
[Illustration: The Box-Maker, and the Turner.
The Box-Maker 1, smootheth hewen-Boards 2, with a Plain 3, upon a
Work-board 4, he maketh them very smooth with a little plain 5, he
boareth them thorow with an Augre 6, carveth them with a Knife 7,
fasteneth them together with Glew, and Cramp-Irons 8, and maketh Tables
9, Boards 10, Chests 11, &c. The Turner 12, sitting over the treddle
13, turneth with a throw 14, upon a Turners-bench 15, Bowls 16, Tops 17,
Puppets 18, and such like Turners work.
Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.
The Box Maker And Turner
Many tools similar to those in the 1685 engraving have been unearthed at
Jamestown.
From _Orbis Sensualium Pictus_ by Johann Comenius (London, 1685).]
[Illustration: Carriages. _Vehicula_:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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