Also pictured: A Pipe Tender with ember tongs, pipe cleaning tool and tobacco tamper.
I am a recent transplant to Bucks county, having worked in house museums in Philadelphia. In September, the WTHS Board asked me to serve as Curator at Moland House. I readily accepted.
Traditionally, when someone enters a historic house museum they are requested not to touch the furnishings or decorative arts objects. Moland House displays period pieces from the early 1700’s and interjected among these items are a few cupboards, chests, tables and chairs which our five skilled woodworkers have designed and created in keeping with 18th c. fine art skills.
I must admit that initially, I was skeptical about the mixture of antique and recently made items. However, when a visitor is welcomed to sit on a Queen Anne style chair rather than a plastic or metal folding chair and the finish on a reproduction wood cabinet beckons a smooth touch of the hand without retribution, a guest enjoys a more comfortable and tactile experience. On select days, you can see our artisans busy working in the barn with hand tools to grace the interiors of the main house with additional household furnishings.
Paul Dzioba, Murrie Gayman, Dave Healy, Warren Mickley and Cal Uzelmeier are our resident woodworkers. They serve as cabinetmakers, joiners, turners, glaziers and occasionally upholsterers. They are specialists whose skills were direly needed to provide homestead furnishings in the colonial era. Thankfully, these men continue these rich crafts today.
As 2026, our 250th anniversary of Independence approaches, it is prudent to look back to the era when America had created a new class leader – artisans and craftsmen, self-made men. This was a social status barely comprehensible to Europeans of the period. I’m extremely excited to share the celebration of history here at Moland House.
I’m sure your visit will be rich in context and enjoyment!
Cheers,
Christine Mifsud, Curator
October, 2025