Mr. Macomber: Now this room—the library—is a designed room.
Mr. Netherton: By you, do you mean?
Mr. Macomber: Yes.
Mrs. Netherton: Do you know what the room was before?
Mr. Macomber: Well, it was really plain.
Mrs. Netherton: Is this an Adam mantelpiece?
Mr. Macomber: You could call this an Adam mantel, although it’s not truly. It’s a mantel of about 1790.... This wood came from an old tavern near Peace Cross in Maryland. The building was torn down to make way for a large shopping center. This is all designed. This is a design of my own with the little dovetails which are a little affectation of mine. [Pointing to the entryway between the library and central hall.] At least part of this stair was original. The newel post and the balusters and the paneling under the first run of the stair are original, and the sheathing from that point up into the hall is a design, and was made right on the job by our carpenters.
Mrs. Netherton: Did you lengthen these windows to the floor?
Mr. Macomber: They were this way when we got the house, but they had been changed some time prior to 1942.
Mrs. Netherton: The cupboard was part of the design, was it not?
Mr. Macomber: Yes, it was, and I think this is one of the panels that came from Pennsylvania.... [Also] the paneled jamb from the library down into the living room came from this old building in Lancaster County [Pennsylvania]. And also the trim around the opening.
The renovator’s description of the dining room included the following comments:
Mr. Macomber: The mantel is a mantel of the period, and I’m quite sure it was in this room. The butterfly cupboard beside it is a design that was added to the room, and designed and built and installed for this particular location. The dining room, being a small room, we planned the recess beside the fireplace for the sideboard and also to give a little more space in the room and in the pantry. The chair rail I’m sure is original and the door trim, but the cornice I installed. The base is original, in most cases, I believe the doors are original, although the bottom rail has been cut off on this to such a degree, it looks as though it might have been for another opening. And that’s true on the door into the library.
Ibid.
Ibid. Mr. Macomber’s recollection is that “I’m quite sure it came from the second floor because it’s the same as the door into the nursery room....” As to the door into the hallway, he notes that it originally had been painted dark blue-green.
Michael and Belinda Straight, interview of December 8, 1968. John Mosby Beattie recalls when animal fat was cooked in the fireplace of the old kitchen to make soap.