By Erin Carlson Mast
With opening only a couple short weeks away, finishing touches are being completed on the interior of President Lincoln’s Cottage. Yesterday, The Gfroerer Company completed hand-stitched binding and installation of woven cocoa matting in the library and drawing room.
Cocoa matting was selected for the Cottage because it appears on a May 1864 invoice from John Alexander to Mary Lincoln. The invoice indicates that Mary purchased, “460 yards of Goqua [sic] matting” for the Cottage at $345.00. Cocoa matting was more expensive than the more common grass matting, but was also more durable. While the type of woven cocoa matting available to the Lincolns is no longer produced, a type of woven cocoa matting was located and acquired for use in President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Ms. Erin Mast is the Curator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Categories:Archive, Preservation
Tags:Cocoa Matting, Historic Restoration, President Lincoln's Cottage
