The first “oval office” wasn’t in The White House. It wasn’t even in Washington, D.C. It was a linen tent, where then-General George Washington spent much of the Revolutionary War.
In a partnership with the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Colonial Williamsburg will complete a reproduction of the tent. The original tent, made near the end of the Valley Forge encampment in 1778, will be displayed at the museum. The reproduced tent, created by Historic Trades tailors, will be used for educational and museum outreach programs.
The museum, located near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, will tell the full story of the American Revolution. A similar museum is being built in Yorktown, to replace the Yorktown Victory Center. Both museums are slated to open in 2016.
Colonial Williamsburg’s skilled trades people will fashion the tent from 160 yards of Irish linen and 90 yards of linen hand-woven in CW’s Weave Room. The Irish linen is being produced by the firm Linenblue in Northern Ireland. The tent will measure 22 feet long, 15 feet wide and 10 feet high.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to use our expertise in the 18th-century trades,” said Jim Horn, Colonial Williamsburg vice president of research and historical interpretation. “Our guests will be able to see and experience the construction of the marquee, and we are delighted to partner with another museum to tell the story of the American Revolution on this project.”
Mark Hutter, CW’s journeyman tailor, will join Museum of the American Revolution Director of Collections and Interpretation R. Scott Stephenson to collect the linen in Northern Ireland. Their visit will include a presentation at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh, a stop at the Irish Linen Center at Lisburn and a variety of other historic sites that document 18th-century linen production.
From mid-May to mid-August, CW visitors will be able to watch tailors Hutter and Neal Hurst work with six seamsters to assemble the linen canvas of the marquee and its chamber. Carpenters and joiners will also pitch in, creating wooden poles to support the structure. Blacksmiths will forge iron hardware and pole fittings, and wheelwrights will carve stakes to anchor the tent.
Washington used an oval-shaped tent as both his chambers and his office. Historical records indicate the original tent was one of a pair. He brought both home in December 1783 to Mount Vernon, where they remained until his military effects were sold at private auction to Martha Washington’s grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. The tents were occasionally displayed in Arlington House.
They were briefly taken in federal custody during the Union Army’s occupation of Arlington House, but were returned to the family at the turn of the 20th century. Now, pieces of Washington’s field headquarters are held by several institutions, including Mount Vernon, the National Museum of American History and the National Park Service.
