Dinning Room
Dublin Core
Title
Dinning Room
Description
The dining room was the center of home life in the mid-19th century. Here the family gathered three times a day for meals. In this room parents and children could eat, talk, and play games in a relaxed atmosphere of informality. The family grew most of the food served in this room. While at Cherry Hill, the Blaisdells (1857-68) grew a variety of crops, fruits and vegetables. In addition, they raised chickens for personal consumption and to sell at the market in Washington, D.C. Items they would have purchased at the town general store included salt, sugar, spices, coffee, tea, and flour. Among the more unusual items purchased by William H. Harvey, the first owner of Cherry Hill (1844-1846), were raisins, a coconut, and a barrel of herring.
The "ponderous sideboard" was essential to a well furnished dining room of the mid-19th century. The family stored their silver and table linens in the sideboard. Younger members of the family were more interested in the large cookie tin often kept in the sideboard.
Note the woodwork in the room. Mantels in farmhouses were usually made of wood and painted. It was unusual to have a cupboard built into the room.
The wallpaper in this room is a documented reproduction of a pattern found in General Moore's home in Winchester, Virginia in 1861. Remnants of this wallpaper were found during the restoration of the Moore house. During the Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson for a time had his headquarters in the Moore home. In a letter to his wife Jackson described the wallpaper as follows, "The walls are papered with elegant gilt paper. I don't remember to have ever seen more beautiful papering ... If I only had my little woman here, the room would be set off."
The "ponderous sideboard" was essential to a well furnished dining room of the mid-19th century. The family stored their silver and table linens in the sideboard. Younger members of the family were more interested in the large cookie tin often kept in the sideboard.
Note the woodwork in the room. Mantels in farmhouses were usually made of wood and painted. It was unusual to have a cupboard built into the room.
The wallpaper in this room is a documented reproduction of a pattern found in General Moore's home in Winchester, Virginia in 1861. Remnants of this wallpaper were found during the restoration of the Moore house. During the Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson for a time had his headquarters in the Moore home. In a letter to his wife Jackson described the wallpaper as follows, "The walls are papered with elegant gilt paper. I don't remember to have ever seen more beautiful papering ... If I only had my little woman here, the room would be set off."
Language
English
Collection Items
Dining table
Walnut Sheraton drop-leaf with a single end drawer.
Jerome mantel clock
A mantle clock with round dial and roman numerals. It was constructed in the shape of a pointed Gothic arch and veneered with rosewood. A reverse painting of the [Robert] Burns Monument decorates the lower half of the dial door.
Currier Prints
"Rebecca" and "Gertrude" Part of a series using popular names of the times. Done before partnership with Ives.
Mahogany card table
Folded top with a molded apron.
Theorum
Stenciled design of basket of fruit. This design is unusual because there is open work in the basket that allows you to see through the fruit and leaves in the bottom of the basket. Most theorems were done on velvet- they were first stenciled and…
Federal Mirror
Split baluster. Gilded pine or mahogany. Note the reverse painting on the upper panel- gold pears on a bed of gold leaves. Spade design in background. Applied design on wood.
Wine Glass and Decanter
Favored for use as a mark of discrimination and gentility. William Harvey, the first owner of Cherry Hill purchased a set at the local general store. These were made from cut and blown glass.
Electrified Glass Candlesticks with Etched Glass Globes
These originally would have had candles in them.