MID-18TH CENTURY

The use of cedar wood is strongly indicative of Bermudian origin. It was the most conspicuous of the various species of native plant, and in the 17th Century there were extensive forests of large trees. In A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia of 1587, the timber was among a list of 'Merchantable commodities' desirable for traffic and exchange with England. During the 17th Century large quantities of the best timber were shipped to England and in 1664 John Evelyn in Sylva praised the properties of cedar, but it was used extensively in Bermudian furniture-making through the 18th and 19th Centuries, even while mahogany, walnut and pine were being imported in quantity from the West Indies and America. For a full discssion see Bryden B. Hyde, Bermuda's Antique Furniture and Silver, Hamilton, 1971.