Presidents
History Salvaged along with working with historic sites, museums and fraternal organizations continually search for new and exciting Witness Wood® and other materials of historic significance. Hereinbelow is a brief description of some very scarce Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged that is related to our US Presidents.
Due to the rarity of many these Witness Woods® and because almost ALL of our Witness Wood® pens are custom made to order, there may NOT be a listing for a specific pen or other items for certain of these woods listed in our store.
PLEASE EMAIL US - if there is a specific Witness Wood® pen or other items you are interested in!
Email Bob@HistorySalvaged.com and we will be happy to work with you to create your perfect custom pen, knife, cufflinks, or other items. Please note: History Salvaged custom handcrafted pens typically are delivered in 2 weeks for placement of your order.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
History Salvaged has acquired Witness Wood® through local Virginia artisans, from a cherry tree that was felled at Mount Vernon home of George Washington our 1st President and Father of the Country.
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Washington served as a general and commander-in-chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolution, and later became the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He died on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
George Washington’s beloved Mount Vernon began as a one and one-half story farmhouse built-in 1735 by his father, Augustine, and received its well-known name during the ownership of his half-brother Lawrence. George acquired Mount Vernon in 1754, over the next 45 years slowly enlarged the dwelling to create the resplendent 21-room residence we see today. Washington personally supervised each renovation; advising on design, construction, and decoration—even during the Revolutionary War. Conscious that the world was watching, Washington selected architectural features that expressed his growing status as a Virginia gentleman planter and ultimately as the leader of a fledgling democratic nation.
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
History Salvaged has acquired tulip poplar Witness Wood® from a tree that was felled on the estate and home of Thomas Jefferson our 3rd President: Monticello, through local Virginia artisans.
Thomas Jefferson - author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia - voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As a public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades.
In 1769, Jefferson began building his house on the plantation that he inherited from his father, Peter Jefferson and although still incomplete in the 1780s, but even so impressed European visitors with the sophistication of its design. By 1809, Jefferson finished the rebuilding of Monticello begun in 1796. He transformed the original eight-room Palladian villa, with its tall two-story portico, into a 21-room house designed in the fashionable neoclassical style he saw in France.
Jefferson, an avid horticulturist, also created the gardens at Monticello, which were a botanic showpiece, a source of food, and an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world. He experimented with plant species brought over from Europe and was particularly interested in developing vineyards.
James Madison’s Belle Grove Plantation
Our JAMES MADISON product is created from Witness Wood® secured by History Salvaged from Belle Grove Plantation: Birthplace of our 4th President. In 2013 after numerous attempts to save the Belle Grove Mulberry Tree from disease and infestation it was necessary to remove the dying 200+-year-old centerpiece of the Plantation’s Bowling Green.
The Belle Grove Mulberry welcomed visitors to the Port Conway, VA estate as far back as Madison’s presidency and witnessed events from its Colonial Period Construction, through the Revolution, and into the Civil War and beyond: including the search for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth who crossed the Rappahannock River at Belle Grove the night before his capture just 3 miles away at the Garrett Farm.
Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace
History Salvaged has acquired original, vintage pieces of wood from the Abraham Lincoln Farm in Hodgenville, Kentucky. The Ladies Lincoln League and the Lincoln Farm Association sold this rare wood piece in the 1920s to raise money for the funding of a library to compliment the proposed monument and memorial building on the site. These original pieces of wood are from the farm where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809. These are incredible and rare pieces of Lincoln's history as most of the pieces from the period have been lost to time. History Salvaged has only seen one other piece available at auction (2011) and research shows one piece that was sold at auction in 2007.
The Ladies Lincoln League would eventually turn the site over to the control of the Nation Park Service but prior to that, the site became a national landmark and the Ladies Lincoln League was responsible for raising money for capital projects and preservation of the site.
This is indeed a rare heirloom of our American past, the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace site is today part of the National Parks system and thus no wood artifact or any other artifact can be removed legally from the property.
Abraham Lincoln Law Office
Lincoln Law Office items are handcrafted from Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged hat was removed from Abraham Lincoln’s law office in the Tinsley Building on Sixth and Adams Street in Springfield, Illinois.
In 1983, the City of Springfield and the Illinois Historical Society began renovation of the second and third floors of the Tinsley Building where Abraham Lincoln’s law practice was located. The Illinois Historical Society reclaimed the oak lathing and wall support beams that were replaced during the renovation, selling these wood remains as a fundraiser to support the Historical Society. Prior to making “Abraham Lincoln’s Law Office Wood Relic(s)” available to the general public, the Historical Society members and supporters were given the opportunity to acquire larger pieces of this historic Witness Wood®, the wood used to create History Salvaged Lincoln Law Office product is made from Witness Wood® acquired by one of the Historical Society’s Supporters in 1983.
The Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices are within the only remaining building in which Abraham Lincoln maintained a law office. Lincoln practiced law in the building from 1843 to about 1852. During his 1847-1849 tenure as a United States Congressman, partner William H. Herndon (1818-1891) maintained the practice. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the Central Springfield Historic District.
Lincoln Oak, Bloomington, IL
History Salvaged has acquired a 10” round piece of the famous Lincoln Oaktree.
The Lincoln Oak was a large oak tree in Bloomington, Il under which both Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas gave several speeches throughout the 1850s. Although the Lincoln Oak was not a site of one of the famed Lincoln/Douglas Debates, it was the site of many exciting political speeches.
Located in an area of Bloomington, IL is known as Dimmett’s Grove when Lincoln and Douglas spoke there between 1855 and 1860, a platform was typically constructed under the shade of the old oak.
The original Lincoln Oak died of the disease in 1976 and was replaced in 1980 when a new oak tree was planted in honor of the original Lincoln Oak.
In 1976, following its removal, several pieces of the Lincoln Oak were taken to the city maintenance building where Parks Superintendent Carl Guhlstorf gave “chunks” of the Lincoln Oak to local residents who stopped by. History Salvaged was able to acquire one of these “chunks” in February 2013.
Although several dozen “chunks” of the Lincoln Oak were distributed by Superintendent Guhlstorf, this is the only known piece to have surfaced since the tree’s removal.
Ford’s Theatre
The FORD’S THEATRE Witness Wood® was acquired by History Salvaged in the form of an 1833 original construction piece of pine that was removed during the 1960’s restoration of the building where our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865.
After being closed and taken over by Congress the following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the building was converted into an office building, given to the Department of the Interior in 1931 and transferred to the National Park Service in 1933 where it remains today. From 1960-1968 the gutting and historic restoration converted the building back to its 1865 Ford’s Theatre heyday and it was officially reopened in 1968 after remaining closed for 100 years.
In 1861 theatre manager John T. Ford leased out the abandoned First Baptist Church on Tenth Street to create Ford’s Theatre and over the next few years, the venue became a popular stage for theatrical and musical productions. On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited Ford’s for his twelfth time to see a performance of Our American Cousin. At this performance, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln; he died the next morning in the Petersen House, a boarding house located across the street.
Harry Truman’s Little White House
Truman Little White House items are handcrafted from Witness Wood® from a Gumbo Limbo Tree acquired by History Salvaged that was removed during maintenance of the Key West, FL vacation home of our 33rd President Harry S. Truman.
Since 1890, history has left its mark on the Truman Little White House. Initially, it served as the naval station’s command headquarters during the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. In 1946 the historic building first served as the Winter White House of President Harry S. Truman and a site for the Cold War response by later presidents. Today, the Truman Little White House is a public, living, Key West museum as well as a retreat and place of government business by our nation's leaders.
The White House
The WHITE HOUSE Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged was removed and made available to the public following the 1927 and the 1950 renovations of the White House, home to every US President since 1800.
In 1927, Calvin Coolidge, tired of the leaky roof, had the attic space expanded into a full third floor by constructing a steel-frame story atop the brick and mortar walls of 1800. According to the Army Corps of Engineers' report, the added weight contributed to the failure of the structure by 1949, prompting our 33rd President, Harry Truman to renovate the entire building, in what has become known as the 1950 Truman Reconstruction.
During both the 1927 and 1950 reconstructions, the US Government sold limited quantities of “mementos” to the public to help support funding of the work. History Salvaged has spent more than 3 years scouring public and private collections, museums and fraternal organizations to acquire enough Witness Wood® to produce a White House Pen Collection, produced from Mid-Atlantic Heart Pine removed during the reconstructions.
Andrew Johnson
History Salvaged has acquired through auction several pieces of Witness Wood® from the Birthplace of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States.
The birthplace of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, is a small, one-story house with a loft structure now standing in Mordecai Historic Park near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. The building originally stood on the backside of lot 162, where Casso's Inn was located. Its exact date of construction cannot be documented, but architectural experts believe that it dates from the late eighteenth century. The kitchen-turned-dwelling generally conforms to several structures described as outbuildings by Peter Casso in 1809 (the year of Johnson's birth.
The house of Andrew Johnson Birthplace stood on its original site until the early 1880s. Sometime between 1880 and 1884 Catherine Pool purchased the structure, moved it to lot 33 on Cabarrus Street, and rented it to a black family. Around 1887 the house was first designated as the Birthplace of Andrew Johnson, by Col. Frederick A. Olds who later founded the Hall of History, the precursor to the North Carolina Museum of History.
The association of the house with President Johnson inspired the Wake County Chapter of the North Carolina Society of Colonial Dames of America to buy it, for $100, in 1904 and arrange with the city of Raleigh to have it moved to Pullen Park, where it could be preserved as part of the state's heritage.
Located at first near the railroad, the birthplace was later moved to a second site in the park for better protection. A restoration project was undertaken at which time the Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged was removed and the house was opened to the public in 1940.
Closed during World War II, it reopened in 1948 while restoration continued. In 1975 the Andrew Johnson Birthplace traveled to its fourth and perhaps final location in Mordecai Historic Park, where it stands as an exhibit on the early history of Raleigh.
Teddy Roosevelt. Sagamore Hill