The Cabinetmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg Giving Attention to the City's Chief Craftsmen in the Furniture Way; And to Their Tools & Methods of Working

In colonial Williamsburg a lofty Speaker’s Chair once cradled the likes of Peyton Randolph, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as they debated liberty. Its origins remain a puzzle—its English scrollwork and American black walnut suggest a blend of imported fashion and local adaptation, yet no records name its maker. The book uses this emblematic piece to launch an investigation into the everyday artisans who shaped furniture for the Capitol and the city after the 1747 fire.

Beyond the chair, the author surveys the towering forests that lined the James River, where trunks six to eight feet wide supplied the massive boards used for tables, chests and cabinets. Detailed explanations of period tools, joinery methods and the practical choices craftsmen made reveal a trade balancing English trends with colonial realities. Illustrated sketches from period journals let listeners hear the rhythm of saws and mallets, offering a tangible sense of a vanished world of wood, skill and community.