The Rowan Museum announces the opening of an exhibit at the 1815 Utzman-Chambers House Museum on South Jackson Street featuring the finely built furniture of revered late 18th century craftsman James Gheen. Six pieces are on display in the house. Two are on loan from a private collection and four are owned by the Rowan Museum. Pieces include two tall secretaries (desk and bookcase), two chests of drawers, fall front desk and a blanket chest. The exhibit will open Saturday.
“This is the first time of which I am aware of there being six pieces of Gheen furniture together under one roof in our community,” said Kaye Brown Hirst, executive director of the museum.
The following is from the May, 1973 edition of Antiques Magazine:
“At the time of the first federal census in 1790, Rowan County encompassed a major part of the Yadkin River basin and had a population of 15,000, the largest of any county in the colony of North Carolina. Between 1770 and 1800 that population included at least five silversmiths, a pewter, two gunsmiths, and many craftsmen working with wood. While local commerce thrived, exportation to the coastal ports was thwarted by poor communications and the difficulties of transportation. This explains why certain native folk and craft traditions along with a retention of old styles characterized the furniture and other decorative arts produced in the Yadkin River valley.
“At least two cabinetmakers worked in the county during the last quarter of the 18th century. One of them, James Gheen, can now be identified as the maker of a documented desk and bookcase and many other pieces of case furniture.
“Gheen’s birthplace and origins remain a mystery, but he probably came to Rowan County from Pennsylvania through the valley of Virginia during or before 1778 when his name appeared on a list for “Capt. Craige’s District.” The stylistic similarities between the furniture of his shop and that of Chester County, Pa., support this theory. Interestingly enough, there were at least two Gheen families in Chester County during the period, although no connection can yet be established between them and the Piedmont cabinetmaker.
“By 1780 Gheen had purchased a 270-acre tract on the north side of the Yadkin River. He, his wife and their seven children probably lived there until 1792 when he bought 500 acres on Second Creek from the silversmith David Woodson. The acquisition of these sizable tracts clearly indicates that Gheen subsidized his cabinetmaking by farming, a practice not uncommon among Piedmont craftsmen. He was ideally located for business since Salisbury, the county seat, was only 10 miles south of his second tract.
“Gheen acquired 2 acres and four lots in the town of Salisbury but never established a shop here. Apparently he found it more convenient to work on his farm on Second Creek. In his will, written April 26, 1796, he calls himself a cabinetmaker and bequeaths to his youngest son, Joseph “the remainder of the tract of land whereon I now live, with the house and improved land, together with my shop and all my shop tools …”
“That Joseph Gheen may have played a significant role in his father’s cabinetmaking business is suggested only by his father’s will. It is known, however, that the elder Gheen had at least one apprentice, John Miller, bound in 1787 for five years and three months “to learn the Art of Shop Joiner.”
“Gheen probably had more than average success as a cabinetmaker in Rowan County. He was well respected in his community and served as constable for his district from 1782 to 1783. His clientele included prominent men like the Reverend Samuel E. McCorkle, pastor of Thyatira Presbyterian Church and a founder of the University of North Carolina, for whom Gheen made a desk and bookcase in 1794. It descended in the McCorkle family together with Gheen’s bill.”
Mickey Black, owner of the Salisbury Emporium and a regional furniture collector and dealer says, “Gheen was one of the earliest cabinetmakers in the South to have his work positively identified, thanks to a family piece and a bill of sale. Once his identifying characteristics were published, the hunt began for other examples. Whenever discovered, his work climbed the ladder to prominent private and museum collections where they remain. Even in today’s market, Gheen furniture is highly prized for its age, style, construction techniques, materials, and for the fact that it is Southern. “
Gheen (for whose family Gheen Road in northwestern Rowan County is named) furniture is highly collectible in this area.
The exhibit opens to the public this weekend during OctoberTour, as the house is on the tour. The Utzman-Chambers House is open 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays through Nov. 30. To schedule group tours anytime during the week, or for more information on the exhibit or the house, call the Rowan Museum at 704-633-5946 or email at rowanmuseum@fibrant.com .