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Historic wood heads to D.C.

December 18, 2007 12:35 am

Wood from a tree George Washington is believed to have planted in Fredericksburg has journeyed from Fauquier Street to a Stafford County workshop and, now, to the White House.

Bill Jewell, who owns Historical Woods of America, has sheltered the remains of a horse chestnut tree that stood for more than 200 years on Fauquier Street at his Stafford County workshop since 2005.

He has contracted with the city to make, and have various other local craftsmen make, bowls, pens, wine stoppers, tables and other items from the wood.

Jewell returns a portion of the proceeds from the sale of those items to the city.

The tree is believed to have been the last of 13 horse chestnut trees that George Washington planted "to shade the walk between his mother's cottage and Kenmore, his sister's home," according to a 1926 article from the Daughters of the American Revolution magazine.

It stood at 406 Fauquier St. until 2005, when the city took it down, a year after it died.

Late last week, as plans were forming for President Bush to visit the Stafford County Rotary Club's meeting, Jewell got a call from a Rotarian, asking if he could make a pen from the wood for them to give to the President.

Aric Wagner, immediate past president of the Stafford Rotary, said the club wanted to give Bush something that was symbolic of the nation's first president, since Ferry Farm, Washington's boyhood home, is in Stafford County.

Wagner said he thought a pen crafted from wood from a tree Washington reportedly planted was the perfect connection.

Spotsylvania craftsman Tim Eggers also made a box from the horse chestnut wood, to go with the pen.

Last Friday, Jewell selected a small block of wood for the pen and sat down in his basement workshop.

After two hours of cutting, sanding, inspecting, sanding again and then placing the collector's-grade fountain pen components into the wooden pen body, he sat back and admired his work.

"It's really an honor," he said of being asked to make a gift for the president.

This week, Jewell planned to set to work on a similar pen for Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak. At last week's City Council meeting, he presented a check for $841.50 to Tomzak. Per Jewell's agreement with the city, that will go to buy more trees to plant around town.