Trestle Table Entertaining In Ancient Ways

Many of today's tables are designed after the trestle table which dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans

. It was the popular style in the 14th century. A very practical design, it is simply a matter of laying a few boards across two stands. You will see this design employed in modern day picnic tables to Amish hand-crafted dining tables.

The trestle tables built by the Amish are very well known for their craftsmanship and are a traditional Americana design of furniture often seen with spindle backed chairs. Amish wood craftsmen have kept the tradition alive and modern homeowners can acquire beautifully crafted pieces at affordable prices. It is the oldest American dining table and quite possibly the oldest design the world over. Shaker and Craftsman style furniture also employ this same design aesthetic.

One trestle table was recorded to be 54 feet in length. Hence the advent of the refectory table, the name coming came from the room in the monastery or castle were used. This new type of table was known as a "joined" table because it was put together by the type of carpenter known as a joiner.

They were often made of maple, oak or pine. A modern style of the refectory table is know as the extension top or a draw table with leaves that are stored under the top and can be pulled out to extend the ends.

Imagine the great halls of Europe, Henry the XVIII ripping into a leg of wild boar served at his massive trestle table. In castles of kings, in great halls of the wealthy between the 12th and 15th centuries these great tables served feasts. Diners would be seated on long benches or stools on one side of the table while the other was used for serving. This may be why earlier tables were narrower. After the feast the table could be dismantled and stored to one side of the great hall. Free standing pillars with cruciform feet for stability were used for support.

The Amish create their tables out of native woods like the early Mediterranean and Europeans. They like to use red oak, hickory, quarter-sawn white oak, walnut, cherry and maple. The modern Amish table is very versatile and is well-suited for seating a wide range of styles like formal dining chairs such as a Windsor or Mission slatted back to solid wood benches as were used in the Middle Ages.

The predecessor to the trestle table was called the table board and frame style, being a long plank of wood resting on a frame of several trestles also called horizontal beams. The legs were designed to be easily dismantled for storage and were very practical for travelling. The bridges of wood were pegged and braced to he tabletop.

With its two pedestals fastened to a horizontal stretcher with stout tenons and locked into place with wedges the trestle table is born. For a little Gothic twist, add an arched stretcher with cut stopped champhers in the legs and the stretcher.

by: Francis Steeds

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