The yearlong project to reconstruct Gen. George Washington’s portable field office is nearing completion. Visitors will have a brief opportunity to view the finished product on Tuesday, Dec. 31, and Wednesday, Jan. 1, when the finished marquee will be erected in front of the Secretary’s Office near the Capitol.But the project, a collaboration between Colonial Williamsburg and Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, isn’t nearly finished. Although the seamsters and tailors will turn to other tasks Jan. 2, tradespeople will continue work on the objects that filled Washington’s tent. If you visit the joiner’s shop, you will find them busily working on stools and tables. Joiners were woodworkers who produced the finish work for buildings: doors, windows, shutters, fireplace surrounds and built-in cupboards. They worked closely with the carpenters who constructed the buildings and installed the components they produced.
Other trades already have contributed items including wooden poles, stakes and iron hardware. Additional furnishings and bedding also will be contributed.
A delay in receiving the linen canvas for the marquee presented both a challenge and an opportunity. Work was set to begin and a tent needed to be ready for the grand opening of the Public Armoury in November. So, using a commercially available canvas cut down to the appropriate width, the tailors and seamsters undertook the creation of a pilot version. This allowed the team to address many of the questions they had about the intricate details of how it had to be constructed. So the version being completed is the second tent, and the one that adheres closest to the Revolutionary era’s standards of materials and construction.
“Marquee” was the common name for an officer’s field tent in the 18th century. Washington called it his field office, and its shape made calling it the “first oval office” an appropriate way to highlight its significance. In that marquee, where he spent an extraordinary portion of the Revolutionary War, Washington made many of the decisions that made it possible for him to be president, and for a White House to even exist. When he set up headquarters in a house, Washington ordered that the marquee be erected nearby. It was there that he typically wrote his dispatches and sought a few moments of solitude.
If you visit, you can speak with the tailors who figured out exactly how to construct the marquee using 18th-century techniques. If you can’t come in person, the webcam will be up until Jan. 1. You can also follow the progress of the project on its facebook page and the Museum of the American Revolution’s blog.
The public’s next chance to see the First Oval Office will likely be in May, then again in October to coincide with the annual Prelude to Victory program. Watch the “What’s New” blog on history.org for upcoming details.
Learn more:
Podcast: The First Oval Office
Vodcast: Reconstructing the first oval office
Leave a Reply