nguished guest was accorded the privilege of being seated in them.
The earliest chairs were cumbersome, being fashioned of oak with solid
square backs, often panelled, and thus were known as "wainscot chairs."
The seat was of wood and the bracing beneath made this article of
furniture exceedingly substantial. Later in the century, a variety of
chairs found their way to Virginia, caned chairs, leather chairs and
Turkey-work chairs. The latter were those upholstered in hand-woven
material imported into England from the Orient and then exported to
Virginia. By the middle of the century, couches were listed and they
were for the most part of the same construction as the chairs.

[Illustration: Wainscot Chair

While stools and benches were commonly used for seats in the early
seventeenth century, a wainscot chair as shown above was in use at
Jamestown before 1623.]

Lord De La Warr, who came to Virginia in 1610, sat in the Jamestown
church in a green velvet chair. This is the first known mention of a
chair in the Colony. In 1623, a wainscot-chair, owned by John Atkins of
Jamestown, was bequeathed to his friend Christopher Davison, Secretary
of the Colony.

In addition to the standard pieces of furniture aforementioned, luxury
articles were imported during the latter part of the century. Mrs.
Elizabeth Digges owned five Spanish tables, two green carpets and a
Turkey-work carpet; Mrs. Elizabeth (Mason) Thelaball, of Lower Norfolk
County, had among her possessions a small desk and a writing-slate. In
the goods consigned, 1694, by Perry and Lane of London to Mrs. Elizabeth
Woory, of Isle of Wight County, was a drugget.

The size of the homes varied from the simple one-room structures
characteristic of the early part of the century to the Bridger home
previously described, and Mrs. Digges' home of six rooms, hall, cellar,
garret and detached kitchen.

In looking over the inventories of the seventeenth century planters,
observation is inevitable that the kitchen area alone maintained its
distinct character. Even among the well-to-do, beds were everywhere,
irrespective of the number of rooms in use. Guns, swords, pistols,
saddles, bridles, steelyards (scales) cluttered up the hall in the
Bridger home.

Bathing facilities were meager. Copper and pewter basins were in general
daily use, and also were employed for sponge baths occasionally taken in
winter before the open fires. The chamber pots, frequently listed,
served othe