This summer I’ve visited several historical houses and sites. Part of this if due to a love of history. The other part is the writer in me doing research for a future project.
A great number of houses on the frontier contained a clock. It makes sense. American clock makers knew their customers. And produced a sturdy, quality product. They also knew that as settlers moved West – into the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri river valleys – telling time would be important. Here the villages would be small, farms isolated, and the tower clocks of churches and town halls non-existent.
As they tick-tocked day and night in a place of honor on the mantle, they provided a pleasant view and perhaps a bit of a status symbol.
This wooden movement shelf clock was built prior to 1835
by one of America’s best – Seth Thomas.
