Hadley Chests

I have been making  a Hadley chest for Christy and Danni's wedding. They got married on October 28, 2007. (I know, it's January. I keep putting it aside to work on customer's pieces.) The chests were made from the 1680s to the 1730s in Hampshire county Massachusetts and parts of what is now Connecticut, along the Connecticut River. They were made by several different shops, but all have the same tulip flower and leaf motif. I wanted to make this chest for a few reasons. One, because I love the proportions and organization of the panels. Two, for the idiot glee of the carving. And three, because the design is such a throw back, or maybe more accurately, a holding-on-to of a much earlier time. The construction and form of the chest is basically medieval. The frame and panels being made of riven oak. The design was still being made in England when the first colonists were landing in Plymouth, and continued to be made here by their descendants 100 years later.

I have read that the motifs on the chests are related to pagan May Day festivals, and some of the chests have little dancing figures in them. The chests were usually made with one person's (woman or girl's) name or initials on the center panel or rail, but there are some with two sets of initials. I chose the use just the first letters of each of their first names.

I also made another chest without initials carved on to it so that it could be personalized for anyone who wanted to purchase it. The pictures show it painted and unpainted.