Virginia in the seventeenth century was a woodsman's paradise, and there is every reason to believe that most of the furniture used in Jamestown houses was made by colonial cabinetmakers. In the forests grew magnificent specimens of oak, walnut, pine, cypress, cedar, maple, and many other varieties; and although contemporary records are scanty, it is believed that the "James Citty" furniture makers made skillful use of such woods. William Strachey, who reached Jamestown in 1610, wrote that the church furniture was made of cedar and black walnut:

It [the church] is in length threescore foote, in breadth twenty foure, and shall have a chancell in it of cedar, and a communion table of blake walnut, and all the pewes of cedar, ... a pulpet of the same, with a font hewen hollow, like a canoa....

In spite of the fact that few records exist regarding the kinds of furniture made in the seventeenth century by Virginia cabinetmakers, the pieces extant reveal that the English styles were followed closely. While it is true that the wealthy planters imported some ornamented furniture from London, much of their furniture was made on the plantations. It is believed that practically all furniture used by the yeomen settlers was locally made.

Shown are gouges, augers, chisels, bits and hammers; an adze, hewing-axe, punch, race-knife, scriber, and wedge. All were hand wrought during the seventeenth century.