8. Windsor Chair

According to family history, General George Washington sat in this comb-back Windsor armchair in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1778, during the American Revolution. The chair may have been made by Thomas Gilpin, working in Philadelphia 1752-67, one of the earliest documented American makers of Windsor-style chairs.

In June 1778, facing a Franco-American alliance in the American Revolution, the British army evacuated Philadelphia, moving overland to consolidate its forces at New York City. In pursuit, the Continental Army left its harsh winter encampment at Valley Forge, reaching the Delaware River at New Hope on June 21. Washington crossed on June 22, after having had breakfast that morning seated in this chair at the home of Richard More, whose descendant, Deborah Iddings Wilson, donated it in 1995.

Although it has no association with Montgomery County, Maryland, it represents the sorts of objects with interesting provenances that donors often wish to see preserved by their local historical society, especially if “George Washington once sat here."

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