Area Cabinetmaker Revives Civil War-Era Desk

By Nancy K. Crevier

Cabinetmaker Greg McAvoy of Southbury, a longtime former Newtown resident, sees his yearly contribution to the C.H. Booth Library as “a kind of tithing to the community.” What he is contributing, though, is not a monetary donation, but his woodworking skills. “Once a year I try to do some kind of restoration or repair project for the library,” said Mr McAvoy.

While normally his annual task involves refurbishing or minor repairs to one of the many antiques housed at the C.H. Booth Library, sometimes he is handed a more daunting assignment.

One of his more involved contributions was the fashioning of the main circulation desk, incorporating a very special tree that had to be cut down when the addition was put on the library, in the mid-1990s.

“I believe it was a chestnut tree,” said Mr McAvoy, “that had been donated to the library a while back by the wife of a prominent Hawleyville man. They didn’t want to just cut it down, so I was asked to use it in making the new circulation desk.”

This year, his tithe was a bit of a challenge, as well.

After efforts by her friend Amy Merrill to sell an old, somewhat battered rolltop desk that she owned failed, Sandy Hook resident Sally Repasi decided to donate the Civil War-era piece of furniture to the library last year, said reference librarian Beryl Harrison.

“It was in bad shape,” she recalled, “but Dan Cruson [Newtown town historian] took a look at it for us and thought it was worth accepting.” Clearly, much work would be needed to put the antique on display, so the library turned to Mr McAvoy for help.

Once Mr McAvoy had the mid-1800s cylinder-top desk in his possession, he was able to assess it. “Then it took me about two and a half weeks to restore it,” he said.

The finish on the entire desk had blackened due to neglect and environmental damage over the years, said Mr McAvoy. “There were cigarette burns on it, and it was dirty. I had to lift that dirt and clean it without compromising the finish beneath, refinish other parts, and then ‘marry’ them all together. There were a few structural repairs, too,” he said.

The desk was finished to look like black walnut, said Mr McAvoy, but like most large pieces of furniture, actually comprises several different varieties of wood. “It is mainly a burl of some type, probably elm or maybe walnut,” he said. The roll top was hand carved from just one large piece of wood “like a violin,” Mr McAvoy noted, and it is this that allows him to date the desk to the time period of the Civil War. “That was a very expensive process and they stopped making the desks like that after the Civil War,” he said.

Other woods that lend themselves to certain applications, such as the flexibility of a wood for curved elements, were incorporated, as well. Finishing touches include the use of tiger maple for drawer fronts, and bird-s-eye maple inside some of the drawers.

 “It was probably made in a small factory, but it has decorative features that could not have been machine made and are definitely hand carved,” Mr McAvoy said.

There remain a few final touches to be made, including the replacement of the desk’s writing felt, but the refurbished desk was returned to the library in mid-October, and is currently on display just outside the elevators on the third floor.

“It’s a good quality piece, worth preserving,” said Mr McAvoy.