DESK-AND-BOOKCASE

This desk has a long history in Frederick County, Maryland.  It was owned by Barbara Fritchie (1763 - 1862) whose father emigrated to Maryland from Lancaster, Pennsylvania around 1767.

This desk shares some decorative features with desks made during the second half of the eighteenth century in Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  This is unsurprising.  Families like the Fritchies and artisans like the one responsible for this desk-and-bookcase often migrated along the Great Wagon Road up and down the Valley of Virginia carrying with them the styles, techniques, and tastes of urban centers like Philadelphia or Lancaster. 

The artisan who is responsible for this monumental piece of furniture remains unknown.  The MESDA Research Center has documented more than thirty cabinetmakers at work in Frederick County, Maryland in the late eighteenth century.