Renny Stackpole, President of the Friends of Montpelier, is proud to announce the publication of Montpelier, The General Henry Knox Museum's first collections catalogue. Entitled Montpelier: This Spot So Sacred To A Name So Great, the catalogue presents highlights from the Museum's significant collection of Federal Period furnishings. It was officially unveiled to great acclaimation at gala on July 23, 2004 with 130 people in attendance.

The catalogue project began in the fall of 2002, when Doris Buffett of the Sunshine Lady Foundation approached the Friends of Montpelier and initiated the Patriot Challenge, in which her foundation matched $100,000 raised by the museum for preservation and registration projects. High on the list of Montpelier's priorities was better documentation of its collections, and the published catalogue showcases the eighteen months of research completed by archivist Ellen Dyer, hired for the project. Objects included in the catalogue range from silver to Society of the Cincinnati China trade porcelain to furniture to period wallpaper and building parts. Significant support for the catalogue was also provided by the MBNA Foundation and a research fellowship from Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. The Maine Historical Society, where Knox's financial papers reside, provided additional assistance.

The following items from the collection were chosen by Museum Curator Ellen Dyer to be included on this exclusive preview of the new work. We hope this look inside the catalog will wet your appetite for purchasing a copy of this fine publication for your family or for a gift.

The full-color catalogue is available through Montpelier's gift shop - $14.95 for the paperback and $45.00 for the hardcover. Shipping and handling is $4.00 per copy. To order, or for more information, please contact Ellen Dyer at (207) 354-0180.

Thomaston Cavalry Color, ca. 1800

The Thomaston Cavalry was one of two local militia units started at the instigation of Henry Knox, and is believed to have formally organized about 1800-1801. In 1799, the town appropriated $200 for flags for the local militia, which may have included this banner. According to a local historian, the Thomaston Cavalry marched at Henry Knox's funeral in 1806, and it has been said they were carrying this banner when they did. Stylistically, this cream-colored painted silk banner suggests that it may have been created by the Portland, Maine artist Charles Codman, who began working ca. 1820. Whatever its exact date, it is one of the oldest Maine military colors still extant. The banner is currently mounted onto a board which prevents its second painted side from being viewed. Conservation work being performed during the winter of 2004-2005 will expose the second side of the banner, and provide many more clues about the origin of this important piece of Maine history

Donated to Montpelier by the Lady Knox Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Accession number: N-3-04
Photo by Ellen Dyer

Travel case, ca. 1785

Because of its French origin, this Knox family heirloom is believed to be a gift to Henry Knox from his friend the Marquis de Lafayette. A brass plate attached to the case contains the address of Eugene Hébert et Compie, master jewelers in Paris. It is called "le necessaire" because it contains everything necessary for travel. Items in the kit include a china tea service for two, silverware, perfume and liquor bottles, toilet articles and a sewing kit. Each item has its own compartment in the green leather-lined interior, and many of the compartments have false bottoms in which to hide valuables.

Donated to Montpelier by Henry Thatcher Fowler.
Accession number: P-082
Photo by Ben Magro

Mahogany shearer style bookcase with fitted interior, ca. 1790

This large, mirror fronted bookcase with gothic trefoil mullions has one of the most colorful legends of any piece at Montpelier. Henry Knox's grandson, Henry Knox Thatcher, claimed to a Knox biographer that this bookcase once belonged to Marie Antoinette. This is a common story attached to many period pieces on the Maine coast: A sea captain in Edgecomb claimed to have been part of a plot to help the endangered queen escape the French Revolution and come to the United States. His job was to transport her and her belongings to a house being set up for her. Obviously, the queen did not escape, but according to legend the boat, fully loaded with her belongings, made it to the coast of Maine, and from there her possessions were dispersed. James Swan, wealthy Boston tradesman and the owner of the boat, was a friend of Knox. He is on record as having sold French aristocratic furniture in the United States during and after the French Revolution, including pieces said to be Marie Antoinette's, making the story plausible. However, the bookcase is very English in style and construction.

The secondary woods used - juniper, tulip poplar, white pine, and yellow pine - suggest that it was made in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From Knox's financial papers we know that he shipped the bookcase from Philadelphia to Boston, then to Thomaston, in the spring and summer of 1796, which was followed up with repairs to the mirrors. It is likely that the bookcase is one of two purchased by Knox a month before he shipped his belongings. The bookcase appears on the probate inventories for Henry Knox, Lucy Flucker Knox, Caroline Holmes and Lucy Flucker Thatcher, and was subsequently passed down in the family. A fall front over the fitted interior and the silver plated candle sconces are not original to the piece.

Donated to Montpelier by Henry Thatcher Fowler.
Accession number: A-6-02
Photo by Ben Magr

Society of the Cincinnati chocolate pot and two-handled mugs, ca. 1790

The China Trade porcelain chocolate pot and matching two-handled mugs bear the insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati and the cipher HLK for Henry and Lucy Knox. The lid of the chocolate pot has a small hole, through which chocolate sediment could be stirred before pouring. About 1790, Major Samuel Shaw, an active member of the Society, commissioned several sets of Cincinnati china from Canton for himself and fellow members of the Massachusetts chapter, including David Townsend, Benjamin Lincoln, William Eustis, William Lithgow, Constant Freeman, Henry Knox, and possibly Henry Jackson.

Shaw wrote to Knox on December 20, 1790, "A set of porcelain for the tea tables of my dear Mrs. Knox... I now send in the Washington... As one of the most amiable and good Sisters of the Cincinnati... I have taken the liberty of blending her cypher with yours." He then enumerated the 150 pieces of the service. Several extant pieces of this pattern are scattered through museums and private collections across the country, but only four pieces bearing Knox's cipher are known to still exist, and Knox's is the only example of a chocolate pot.

Donated to Montpelier by Henry Thatcher Fowler
Accession number: C-1-41
Photo by Ben Magro

Philadelphia Windsor chair by William Cox & Joseph Henzey, ca. 1794

Henry Knox purchased a number of Windsor chairs to furnish Montpelier. A receipt in the Knox financial papers at the Maine Historical Society shows that he started with a set of "Twelve oval back'd white colord armchairs" and "Twelve oval back white colord chairs without arms," purchased from William Cox in 1794. Another receipt indicates that he followed up in 1795 with over one hundred more. This chair, one of those purchased from Cox, has mahogany arms and the original white paint can be seen underneath later coats of white paint. It bears Cox's stamp, W. Cox, on the underside of the seat, as well as the stamp IH twice. According to Charles Santore, the stamp IH is associated with the later work of Joseph Henzey, a Philadelphia chairmaker who worked from about 1760-1806. There is no other record that these two men ever worked together, and it is possible that Cox simply required assistance to assemble the large 1795 order. An identical chair at Montpelier only bears Cox's stamp, and may be one of the original order for 24 chairs. This chair is very typical of both makers' work: It is a classic Philadelphia chair, with bamboo turnings and arms attached by mortise-and-tenon joints. Both Cox and Henzey were producing many such chairs during this period, without much variety. Knox's Windsor chairs were sold at auction in 1854, and many local people bought them as mementos of Montpelier.

Only arm chairs are known to be extant: Eight have been returned to Montpelier, one is in the collections of the Maine Historical Society, and one is known to be in a private collection. An identical arm chair bearing identical stamps is at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, and may also be part of Knox's set.

Donated to Montpelier by M.J. Watts.
Accession number: A-1-32
Photo by Ellen Dyer