Images(2)

Gavel

Period1936

MediumOak

Dimensions11 × 3 × 4 in. (27.9 × 7.6 × 10.2 cm)

InscribedInscribed on the head of the gavel, "THIS GAVEL WAS MADE FROM / ONE OF THE OLD OAKS THAT / STOOD ON TENNENT CHURCH / GROUND UNDER WHICH / WASHINGTON WITH HIS / STAFF HELD COUNCIL, 1778. / WILLIAM DAVISON PERRINE / PRINCETON JCT., N.J. 1936."

ClassificationsMilitary Artifacts

Credit LineGift of William Davison Perrine, 1937

Object number993

DescriptionA traditional style gavel, of oak, with elongated handle with carved rings just below gavel head, widening to curved shaft end. Gavel head itself is an overall barrel shape, with incised inscription darkened with ink.
NotesAccording to the donor, this gavel was made from one of the old oak trees that stood on the grounds of Tennent Church, Manalapan, Monmouth County, under which Washington and his staff held council in 1778. Donor William Davison Perrine was born in 1875 in Manalapan, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He worked at the Stokes File and Rasp Factory on Bannard Street in Freehold for a time. Perrine, a well-respected local historian, wrote numerous articles for the local papers on Monmouth County history and genealogy. In 1942 he dontaed this simple gavel, made from an oak tree that stood near Old Tennent Church. In the aftermath of the Battle of Monmouth, numerous souvenirs and mementos were taken from sites that had seen heavy fighting during the Battle of Monmouth. Old Tennent Church and Old Tennent Parsonage were particularly popular, with everything from walking sticks and gavels to slices of original stairway railings becoming prized collectibles. Perrine was also an amateur archaeologist, and unearthed a fragment of an 18th century wagon axle near Wemrock Road which he donated to the Historical Association. The axle is thought to have come from one of the numerous baggage wagons that made up the British Army's wagon train on its way from Philadelphia to Sandy Hook during the summer of 1778.

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