Recent Research On Furniture At Clermont From Williams Estate
In reviewing furniture used at Clermont by Elizabeth Williams and her parents, Edward and Caroline Williams, and inherited by the Foundation in 2004, Nick Powers, Curator of Collections at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, has pointed out three items with special interest. While the Owner House is not furnished as a house museum (although some furniture is currently stored there), family furnishings from various periods are used to illustrate social and technological developments across its history.
Walnut Linen Press
Mr. Powers, an authority on 18th and 19th-century cabinetmakers in Frederick County, VA, believes that the walnut linen press was possibly made in a local shop in the period 1790-1800, based on its details. It is known to have been in Gov. Holliday's home in Winchester.
Carter Hall (Clarke County) Upholstered Dining Chair
These three Neo-Classical chairs were part of a set of 8 or 12, made for Nathaniel Burwell at Carter Hall, ca 1795, possibly by a cabinetmaker in Winchester, and upholstered by another who advertised from Berryville. Until recently, only two exemplars were known, the one at the center at MESDA, and the one on the right at the Virginia Historical Society. The one on the left was discovered at Clermont.
Virginia Sectional Settee
Two-piece settee at Clermont, 1820-1860, a little-known, rare type of furniture based on campaign furniture. Probably from Rappahannock Co.
Two-piece settee 1800-1820, Madison Museum, Orange Co., VA (Hal Stuart, Virginia Sectional Furniture, 2015).
