18th Century Dinner is Served

This was the principal place where family and guests dined and where entertainment took place, perhaps before adjourning to the parlor or to a bed chamber. Originally, the hall would have been one large room. The board wall and door that divide the room are later constructions probably added by the Cowans when the south end of the room was reconfigured in the mid-1820s. An original framed pencil drawing of Christopher Cowan now hangs in the dining room and was donated to the NHA by Sarah Wrenshall Steinmark and Edgar Steinmark in 2012. As noted earlier, the fine dining table in the center of the room once was owned by Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commander of American forces at the battle of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780.

 

The corner fireplaces, one in the dining room and one in the bedroom, probably replaced an original central end chimney. Both of these architectural changes may date to the time when the south wall of the house was joined to the clapboard-covered log kitchen in the mid-1820s. These extensive architectural alterations also included the building of a massive new chimney complex that served the two new corner fireplaces and the huge cooking fireplace in the log kitchen.

 

Visitors should note that the wood paneling in the dining room is vertically applied in distinction to the horizontal boards in the parlor that were intended for covering with wallpaper. The strongly vertical dining room walls were painted, however, and the most recent painting restoration in this room in 2012 followed careful examination and study of the original paint scheme. Originally, the mantle and trim were cream colored with a wood-grained top. Black was used to outline the firebox and on the baseboard. The walls are now painted to match the original colors as closely as possible.