The projecting cornice above a panel of reeded diamonds continuing to concave niche with plank seat flanked by flat columns with herringbone reeding above a stepped and shaped semi-circular base. Back is painted grey and stenciled in green.
seats and seat components
molding (forming)
painting (coating)
paneling
pine (wood)
stenciling
Stage
"Cherished Possessions": Virtually every hamlet in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century New England had at least one tavern. Usually placed at the junction of well-traveled roads, taverns accommodated travelers and served as community centers where people gathered to eat and drink, share news, hold meetings, hear lectures, listen to music, and dance. This fiddler's throne comes from the Mack Tavern in Deerfield, New Hampshire, a small village on the stagecoach road between Concord and Portsmouth. Positioned along the wall of a large hall, the seat gave the musician a place of honor, above the crowd so that his music could be heard. In 1919, after the tavern fell into decay, preservationists rescued the throne.
Original To Mack Tavern,
1927.2289
Unknown
96 x 59 1/2 (HxW) (inches)
Museum Purchase
1927.2289.1
New Hampshire (United States)
Deerfield (Grafton county, New Hampshire)
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].