Label
Desk, circa 1760
New England
Mahogany
Gift of Margaret Hyde Fay Brown, #1922.14.2
Ethan Allen, Thomas Chittenden, and Dr. Jonas Fay all used this desk when they stayed at the Catamount Tavern. The proprietor of the tavern, Stephen Fay, hosted these and other men when they met to organize the Green Mountain Boys, fight the British advancing on Bennington, and plan how Vermont would be governed.
Stephen’s wife Ruth may have sat at this desk in the fall of 1777 as she struggled to write a difficult letter to relatives in Connecticut. She had lost her son, John, at the Battle of Bennington, and his wife and two baby sons died unexpectedly a few weeks later.