Upcoming Events

The next Blue Ridge Chapter meeting is being moved from Fredericksburg to Orange, Virginia. We will visit a museum and incredibly furnished historic home, Bloomsbury, that I believe we have never visited and few of us probably know about.  And our chapter member Carl Maples will give a presentation on a historically significant chair and the process he employed to make two copies of the originals from a documented set.

• JAMES MADISON MUSEUM.  Contains items owned by the Madisons, to include some furnishings, and other items relevant to the family and to the area.
• BLOOMSBURY:  Situated among scenic rolling hills and fields, Bloomsbury is the oldest extant dwelling in Orange County, Virginia.  Prior to the mid-18th century, most planter’s homes this far west of the James River would have been built with logs, which makes Bloomsbury’s frame structure unique. The two wings of the home date from the 1730’s and late 1790s. 
• CARL MAPLES PRESENTATION.  Carter Hall in Clarke County is one of the finest manor homes in Virginia [this is not the house we will visit].  It was built in the 1780's by Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, aid-de-camp to General  Washington, and a descendant of Robert King Carter of Carter's Grove in Williamsburg.  A set of 12 Federal style side chairs were made in Winchester for Carter Hall between 1790 and 1810.  Today, four chairs survive from the original set.  As part of a Museum of the Shenandoah Valley program highlighting Winchester furniture making, Carl Maples, a SAPFM member, will be making two handmade copies of the Carter Hall chairs.  The presentation at the Chapter meeting will concern the process of making copies of these up-country Federal style chairs. 

AGENDA [subject to change]: