Haberdeventure, Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Port Tobacco, Maryland
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L/l¿l¿ ¡6 «... ~ ^ 7 Portraits of Margaret Stone and Thomas Stone. By Robert Edge Pine, oil on canvas, c. 1785. Historic Furnishings Report Haberdeventure Thomas Stone National Historic Site Port Tobacco, Maryland U. S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service APPROVED: John J. Donahue Superintendent, Thomas Stone National Historic Site September 19,1996 HISTORIC FURNISHINGS REPORT Haberdeventure Thomas Stone National Historic Site Port Tobacco, Maryland by Carol Petravage Staff Curator Division of Historic Furnishings Harpers Ferry Center National Park Service 1999 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS....................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................ vi ADMINISTRATION..................................................................................................................... 1 INTERPRETIVE OBJECTIVES....................................................................................... 2 OPERATING PLAN......................................................................................................... 3 PRIOR PLANNING DOCUMENTS................................................................................ 4 HISTORY...................................................................................................................................... 5 HISTORY OF HABERDEVENTURE.............................................................................. 5 HISTORICAL OCCUPANCY.......................................................................................... 6 SUMMARY OF SOURCES.............................................................................................. 9 Wills and Inventories of the Stone Family and Descendants............................... 9 Comparative Inventories of Other Charles County Residents, 1760-1800........... 9 Room-by-Room Inventories.................................................................................... 9 Family Papers........................................................................................................... 9 Photographs of the Interior of Haberdeventure..................................................... 10 Material Evidence..................................................................................................10 EVIDENCE OF ROOM USE AND FURNISHINGS....................................................... 11 Wills and Inventories..............................................................................................11 Excerpts from Letters, Receipts and Other Papers................................................59 List of Furnishings Sold to Charles Smith.............................................................62 Material Evidence.................................................................................................. 62 Archaeological Objects.......................................................................................... 63 FURNISHING PLAN.................................................................................................................... 65 RECOMMENDED FURNISHINGS and WORKING DRAWINGS...............................66 Bedchamber (Room 105)....................................................................................... 66 Passage (Room 106).............................................................................................. 72 Parlor (Room 107)................................................................................................. 75 ILLUSTRATIONS....................................................................................................... 85 APPENDIXES..............................................................................................................................127 APPENDIX A: Comparative Inventories of Other Charles County Residents, 1760-1800.......................................................................................... 129 APPENDIX B: Room-by-Room Inventories from Prince Georges County, MD, and Lancaster and Richmond Counties, VA........................................................ 181 APPENDIX C: List of Books.......................................................................................... 257 APPENDIX D: Notes from an Oral Interview................................................................273 BIBLIOGRAPHY .277 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Cover. Portraits of Margaret Stone and Thomas Stone. By Robert Edge Pine, oil on canvas, c. 1785. Figure 1. Thomas Stone. By Robert Edge Pine, oil on canvas, c. 1785. Figure 2. Mrs. Thomas (Margaret Brown) Stone. By Robert Edge Pine, oil on canvas, c. 1785. Figure 3. “Interior-‘Haberdeventure’: Erected about 1772 by Thomas Stone near Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, showing the portrait by Pine.” Drawing. Figure 4. Parlor, southeast comer and fireplace, photograph, c. 1927. Figure 5. Parlor, southwest comer, photograph, c. 1927. Figure 6. Parlor, northwest comer, photograph, c. 1927. Figure 7. Parlor, northeast comer and fireplace, photograph, 1969. Figure 8. Parlor, southwest comer, photograph, 1969. Figure 9. Parlor, northwest comer, photograph, 1969. Figure 10. Installation of Haberdeventure paneling at the Baltimore Museum of Art, photograph, 1969. Figure 11. Installation of Haberdeventure paneling at the Baltimore Museum of Art, photograph, 1977. Figure 12. Passage, photograph, 1970s. Figure 13. Bedchamber (used as a study), fireplace and northwest comer, photograph, 1969. Figure 14. Bedchamber (used as a study), fireplace and west wall, photograph, 1970s. Figure 15. Bedchamber (used as a study), fireplace and southwest comer, photograph, 1970s. Figure 16. Bedchamber (used as a study), northeast comer, photograph, 1970s. IV Figure 17. Dining room, looking east, photograph, 1936. Figure 18. Dining room, looking west, photograph, 1969. Figure 19. Dining room, looking west, photograph, 1970s. Figure 20. Dining room, looking east, photograph, 1970s. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank the staffs of Thomas Stone National Historic Site and George Washington Birthplace National Monument for their assistance in answering questions and providing copies of documents and photographs used in this report. I would also like to thank all of the descendants of Thomas Stone, who have been so generous with their time and patience, especially Richard and Beverly Stone. Lastly, thanks to Jean Lee, foremost Thomas Stone scholar, who cheerfully answered some knotty background questions. vi ADMINISTRATION Thomas Stone National Historic Site (NHS) was authorized November 10,1978, by Public Law 95-625.1 The central core of the main house, Haberdeventure2, had been gutted by fire in 1977. Since its acquisition of the site, the National Park Service has restored the exterior of the house to its 1900 appearance, the earliest documented period.3 The interior of the house will be used largely for exhibits, including three historically furnished rooms. The documentation for the furnishings of Haberdeventure falls into two categories. The documentary evidence consists mainly of Thomas Stone’s will, the inventories of Stone’s estates in Charles County and Annapolis, the wills and inventories of later occupants of Haberdeventure, and a number of late-18th-century inventories from Charles County and neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia collected for comparative purposes. A few 20th-century photographs exist of the interior of Haberdeventure. A large body of material evidence also exists for the site. A number of items known to have been used at Haberdeventure through the 20th century have been located. Unfortunately, although many objects date to the last quarter of the 18th century, it is impossible to prove beyond doubt in most instances that a particular item was used by Thomas Stone, and is not simply an older item introduced by a later occupant of the house. Archaeological investigation has uncovered a wide variety of ceramics and glassware probably used by the inhabitants of Haberdeventure in the 18th century, including some nearly complete items. The exhibit plan for Thomas Stone NHS includes an audio-visual orientation located in the garage, exhibits to be placed in the North and South Kitchens (101 and 103), and information and sales in the Dining Room (104). The West Parlor (105), Stair Hall (106) and East Parlor (107) will be historically furnished. The furnishings in the Stair Hall will be limited to large reproduction items and items that can be firmly attached to the walls, since visitors will have free access to this space and small objects would be difficult to secure. The East Parlor will be fitted with new reproduction wood paneling, copied from the original paneling removed from the house in 1928 and now installed in the Baltimore Museum of Art.4 The historically furnished East and West Parlors will be protected by barriers designed by the firm producing the exhibit. The East Parlor, which will be 1 National Park Service, “Interpretive Prospectus, Thomas Stone National Historic Site,” by Russ Smith and Ron Thomson, Interpretation and Visitor Services, Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, October 1990, p. 4. 2 Occasionally one might see other spellings for Thomas Stone’s house, such as ‘Haber D’Venture’ or ‘Habre de Venture’. Some of those alternative spellings can be found in the cited references of this historic furnishings report. However, since ‘Haberdeventure’ is the spelling that Thomas