Tea table

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Date

1765–85

Description

Mahogany. Early Americans were addicted to tea. During the eighteenth century, sipping the hot brew around a well-equipped tea table was an important social ritual that showed off one’s status and gentility. This table descended in the Floyd family and is believed to have once belonged to William Floyd (1734–1821), a wealthy landowner and the only Long Island signer of the Declaration of Independence. It is possible he purchased the table after returning from exile in 1783 to his family’s estate in Mastic, which had been occupied and plundered by the British during the Revolutionary War. Floyd opted for a table made from prized mahogany wood in a design rooted in London fashions. Following independence, influential Americans, like William Floyd, continued to style themselves after British elites. He remained a prominent political figure and served as a member of the first US Congress. One can only imagine the conversations that were held around this table during our nation’s earliest days. This item was featured in the Voices and Votes: Democracy in America Exhibition.

Type

Artifact

Region

Long Island, New York State, United States

Era

Revolution and New Nation

Topic

American Revolution, Community, Industry

Repository

Preservation Long Island

Identifier

2003.1

Source

Preservation Long Island

Rights

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