Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-04-29
CARVED FROM british OAK.
D. A. r. FURNITURE In THE NEW
JERSEY ROOM.
Made of Beams Taken From the Fri
gate Augusta, Sunk in the ReyoIu-
tionary War. III


/ There is one feature of Memorial
Continental Hall which delights the
visitors and brings to mind one of
those far-away victories which the
American patriots scored against
King George and his men, The sea-
ture is ssthe New Jersey ROOM" fur
nished by the New Jersey chapters of
the d. A. r., and the wood from which
the chairs. Wainscoting, beams and
other gifts have been carved is taken
from the British frigate Augusta,
which ran aground October 23, 1777,
while fighting a sWarm,,of American
galleys and floating batteries on the
Delaware. Since then the frigate has
rested ignoby upon New Jersey sand,
mecca for tourists and mine for
the memento seeker.
The Augusta was of 1850 tons bur
den, carried sixty-four guns and was
no second-rate ship. In fact, she was
rated as one of England's best when
she set sail to take part in what the
British admiralty thought would be
the complete subsection of the bother
some Yankees Yet for 1870 years the
white oak hull lay half under water,
after having vainly tried to stem the
tide of battle by broadsides of 1900
pounds each. The white oak became
as hard as marble in that long period,
and much more difficult to carve, and
the New Jersey Society had great diff
ficulty in finding wood workers and
saw mills which would undertake to
fashion the great beams of the decks
and hull into chairs, tables and other
furniture.
Miss iaatlock's Idea.
The idea of taking enough wood
from the Augusta to furnish New
Jersey room originated with Miss Ell
len Matlock, of the Ann Whitall Chap
ter of New Jersey. She and Miss
Ellen Mecum, for four years state
regent of New Jersey, worked hard to
make the New Jersey room a success.
Miss Mecum retires this year, as she
is no longer entitled to hold office, but
every New Jersey Daughter will re-
member her as one of the strongest
state regents who has ever held office
anywhere in the society. She found
that TO get the wood from the ship
would cost $500, and Immediately set
about to get it. Not only did the New
Jersey Daughters raise the S400, but
they raised $1,320 more and spent
every cent of it on their room.
The style adopted for the furniture
of the room was of the Jacobean per-
iod, as at that time oak was used al
most exclusively in England The
chairs have been made some with cane
backs and some with backs carved in
to wooden chains and called "chain
backs" One of the chairs is a re-
plica of chair dated 1869 and ex-
hibited at che treasurer's house at
York, England. That replica was one
of the first pieces of carving to be
done for the room, and was som awhat
in the nature of an experiment How
ever, those earlier pieces have re-
ceived great praise and commendation
from visitors to the room.
Paneled and Carved Wainscoting.
| Later on the New Jersey Daughters
had deep wainscOting made for the
room, paneled and carved, and ,on one
side they had carved the arms of their
state A testimonial of Miss Mecums S
Iabors was presented by the New Jer
sey D. A. R. in the shape of lamp.
The standard of the lamp is of the
Augustus iron and was beaten into
shape by hand. The design is an ex-
qllisite one There is settee and an
armchair, a graceful bench, a desk, a
massive table, a lectern and an IL
Illuminated parchment under glass
showing what each gift is and what
chapter gave it. The parchment gives
brief history of the wood in addi.
tion The oak bears only the polish
of the tools and has a most unusual
and dignified appearance.