Long before 1963 when the Roanoke River was dammed to form Lake Gaston, the Fitts families were living near present-day Vaughan, North Carolina. It was from a house that had long been in the Fitts family that this blanket chest emerged.

Like most blanket chests, this piece has a large lid with two wrought iron hinges and the remnants of a lock on the front (only the strike remains). The side edges are holding fast with well-cut dovetails, but the trim around the lid is unfortunately missing on the right hand edge.

What’s most interesting, perhaps, is what is missing. There is no evidence that this chest ever had feet; the bottom is well-worn and there are no holes, marks or indications that it ever had feet. And despite its solid construction, there is virtually no ornamentation. It’s well-made, but it was made primarily as a functional piece of furniture; elegant in its simplicity.

My first idea about this chest was that it might be Moravian (many beautiful and similarly proportioned chests came out of the Salem area), but there was something about this chest that suggested otherwise. Its proximity to the Roanoke River — well known for period craftsmen like Thomas Day and the superlative furniture collection of the Hope Plantation in Windsor, North Carolina give us ample examples of documented antebellum and reconstruction furniture to compare this piece to.

I haven’t had a chance to explore this aspect of the chest’s history yet (I found the chest less than 24 hours ago!), but I did take some time to learn more about the Fitts family, and that may provide some other clues about the chest’s storied past.

Fitts is a common surname in this area, and the 1870 census records show a large number of both Caucasian and African American families with this surname in Warren County. Findagrave.com lists a Fitts Family Cemetery just north of Macon, NC near the Virginia boarder (and less than 5 miles from the Fitts house that this chest came from). The findagrave description also notes an adjoining “slave cemetery” across the street, suggesting that the Caucasian Fitts families were slave owners. Not surprisingly, the 1870 Federal Census shows a large number of African American families in Warren County with the “Fitts” surname; one may surmise that some of these were former slaves who retained their indentured surname.

The 1870 census does list a “Benjamin Fitts”, age 35, as living in River Township, Warren County, with his wife and two children. There’s no way to connect the chest to this particular Fitts family at this point, but it’s an interesting point of convergence for these scattered bits of historical information.

The austere design could suggest African American workmanship; antebellum furniture made by African Americans was often plain (although not always, as was amply demonstrated by Thomas Day).

As is usually the case, even a cursory examination like this offers many questions and very few answers.

Most importantly, though, the sturdy construction and deeply ingrained wear and tear suggest that the chest’s creator was a talented craftsman, and that his work has provided many decades of faithful service.