Autumn in Maine is a magical time. There’s frost in the morning air, the leaves are growing more fiery by the day, and we’re hauling firewood into the house with increasing regularity – all reminders of the changeability of the season and the fast approach of winter. It’ll be here before you know it. Every October, we head up to Leonard’s Mills in Bradley for their Living History Days – me and my family as visitors, Joshua and his family as historic interpreters. It’s a great time to wander around the working sash mill, weave at one of the old looms, eat some beanhole beans and reflector-oven biscuits, and take a wagon ride. We usually run into old friends there, and...
Editor’s Note: This post is written by Shelley Cathcart, Assistant Curator at Old Sturbridge Village. Shelley and her co-author, Amy Griffin (American Foundation Curatorial Fellow), have been researching the cabinet and chair making of two New England craftsmen. We are excited to publish this fresh research in M&T Issue Three, titled "On the Trail of Two Cabinetmakers: Reconstructing the Careers of Samuel Wing and Tilly Mead". We are confident this essay will help to advance our understanding of rural American cabinetmaking before the Industrial Revolution. Interior of Samuel Wing’s Workshop, Sandwich, Massachusetts. November 1964 A new exhibition at Old Sturbridge Village, Planed, Grained, & Dovetailed: Cabinetmaking in Rural New England, explores the tools, products and livelihoods of rural cabinetmakers in...
