A Walk Through Williamsburg

1
A Walk Through Williamsburg
2

• Capital of Virginia from 1699 to 1780
• Restoration began in 1926
• John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
• A view of how Americans lived in 1774

3
Living History
4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
The Palace of the Royal Governor was where the
power and wealth of the British Empire was on
display to the people of Virginia.
7
A walk through Williamsburg reveals that America
was built with wood
8
Estimated 3.4 million miles of fence existed in
America in 1850
9
Virginia, Zigzag, or Snake Fence
10
Plank Fences
11
Post and Rail Fence
12
As early as 1750 Peter Kalm made the dire
prediction that the forest in Pennsylvania would
last only another 40 to 50 years if the zigzag
fence continued to be built.
Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests (p.
75)
13
Fuel
14

• Fuel was readily available and the natural
  byproduct of clearing land
• Cutting, splitting, and gathering firewood was
  labor intensive.
• Farmers typically cut wood in the winter when
  other farm work could not be done.
• In towns and cities, firewood was brought in from
  the countryside by farmers or wood dealers

Silversmith Shop
15

• Typically, small trees were cut for fuel
  avoiding knotty or twisted stems.
• Hardwoods are typically denser than softwoods,
  producing more heat and burning longer.
• Softwoods also produce sparks and form creosote
  in the chimney creating a fire hazard

Wythe House Kitchen
16
Adapting to a scarcity of resources

• In 1775, firewood was scarce in the Williamsburg
  area and had to be shipped from farther west.
• The Anderson Blacksmith Shop turned to coal.

17
The Colonial Craftsmen
Every craftsman in a village shop of 1776 had
preferences in wood species.
Youngquist and Fleischer, Wood in American Life
(p. 35)
Printer
18
In eastern New England and New York and the
tidewater south, English-style timber frame
buildings covered with clapboards were favored
over the frontier log cabin. (Randolph House)
19
Carpenters
20
Timber Framing at Williamsburg (Colonial
Williamsburg Journal)
21
(No Transcript)
22
Water-powered sawmill

• Developed ca. 1621
• Found throughout New England in 1600s
• Single blade (reciprocal motion)
• Might be in a sash or frame
• Sawed 500-3,000 lineal feet per day compared to
  100-200 lineal feet with a pit saw

Old Sturbridge Village, MA
23
Clapboard Siding
Anderson Blacksmith Shop
24
Timbers white oak was preferred for sills
yellow-poplar and southern pine were also used
for interior framing
25
Pine was a preferred species for carved woodwork,
ceilings, paneling, and flooring throughout
Colonial America.
26
Flooring

• Unfinished southern pine planks
• Why unfinished?

Raleigh Tavern
27
Shingles were typically made from redcedar,
cypress, white oak, or southern pine
28
Carriages, coaches, shays, wagons, buckboards,
carts

• Carriage shop (not at Williamsburg)
• Body of carriage ash, cherry, yellow-poplar
• Wheels and running gear hickory and maple
• Paneling butternut

29
The Wheelwright

• Hubs were made of American elm
• Spokes and wheels were made of oak and ash
• Later wheelwrights discovered the usefulness of
  hickory

30
(No Transcript)
31
The Coopers
32
The unglamorous yet versatile cask of the 1700s
was as necessary, varied, and unremarkable as
todays cardboard box.
Ed Crews, Making circles Colonial
Williamsburg, Autumn 2003, pp. 52-55
33
(No Transcript)
34
Slack Cooperage

• Red oak, maple, elm, ash, hickory, chestnut, and
  pine
• All but pine are hardwoods.
• Hardwoods contain, large, specialized,
  fluid-transport cells known as vessel elements
  or pores.

35
White Oak Tight Cooperage

• The pores of white oak, a hardwood, are blocked
  with a honeycomb-like structure called tyloses.
• The tyloses make the wood impermeable.
• White oak is an ideal wood for barrels that
  contain liquids.

36
Basketmaker
37
The Gunsmith
38
Rifling Machine
39

• Curly maple was the preferred wood for gunstocks
• Also used cherry walnut
• Stocks finished with Nitrate of Iron 1 part
  nitric acid, 3 parts water, and iron filings

40
Hay Cabinet Shop
41
Furniture makers in small towns were
generalists who constructed plain furniture
much like that constructed in the 17th century
and often constructed houses and many other wood
products.
42
In cities, the craftsmen were more specialized
joiners, turners, cabinetmakers, chair-makers,
upholsterers, and carvers.
(Colonial Williamsburg Journal)
43
Rocking Chair

• Used 10-15 species of wood
• Rockers of black walnut would not creep forward
  like maple or hickory made slick by wear
• No glue or nails were available so seasoned parts
  would be inserted into parts of green wood so
  that the joint would tighten as the parts dried

44
Since properties of woods change with weather by
warping and contracting or expanding, it was a
fine art to match woods acting in opposite ways
to keep joints tight.
W.G. Youngquist and H.O. Fleischer, Wood in
American Life p. 30
45

• American furniture makers followed European
  styles and used familiar species oak, elm,
  maple, pine, and walnut especially walnut.
• Imported mahogany was also used by the more
  elegant furniture makers.
• American species began to find favor in the 18th
  century yellow-poplar and black cherry.

46
The fine furniture of the 18th century
illustrates the fact that wood articles could be
not only well made but also of high artistic
quality.
Youngquist and Fleischer, Wood in American Life
(p. 37)
47
Harpsichord Maker
48
(No Transcript)
49
(No Transcript)
50
Kirkwood Harpsichord
Governors Palace
51
The harpsichord was one of the most complicated
musical instruments made from wood, but it was
not the only one

• Violins, mandolins, and other stringed
  instruments
• Fifes
• Drums

52
Spinning and Weaving

• Spinning and flax wheels were constructed by
  carpenters
• Hardwoods beech, maple, oak, ash

53

• Weaving looms were constructed of hardwoods or
  pine
• Shuttles were of persimmon, maple, birch, dogwood
  or other dense, fine-grained wood
• Dyes were often made from bark or roots of trees

54
Items made from wood may be found throughout
Williamsburg as they were throughout early America
55
Wood may be found in the shops
56
in the most necessary places
Wythe House necessaries
57
in the taverns
Raleigh Tavern
58
in its high public places
General Court of Virginia The Capitol
59
in its finest houses
Wythe House
60
and in the projects of the future
Great Hopes Plantation
61
In retrospect life in early America was not only
made possible, but it was made beautiful by
wood.
Youngquist and Fleischer, Wood in American Life
(p. 58)
Randolph House