Blanket Chest

This small chest with spotted paint decoration was probably made for Nancy Wyatt Adams who lived in the foothills of Wilkes County before the Civil War. Her daughter, Elizabeth Adams (seated in the front row, second from the left in the photograph) married Sidney Johnson in 1880. According to family tradition, Elizabeth packed her belongings into the chest to take to her new husband’s home, shown in a circa 1930 photograph. It stayed in the family until it was donated to MESDA in 2010. This chest was carpenter-made with simple tools and hand wrought hinges. It was likely painted by a member of the family. Chests such as this were the most common storage form used in the North Carolina Piedmont.