Souvenir spoon: Fort Monroe

1895-1915

Maker

Gorham Manufacturing Co. (1831-1986)

Measurements

4-1/8 in x 3/4 in x 1/2 in

Materials

Silver with a gold-washed bowl

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1133

Inscription

Gorham marks and “STERLING” are on the back of the bowl at the handle attachment.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

This spoon, identified as representing Fort Monroe in the bowl, has a woman in draped dress ornamenting the end of the handle.  Although sculpted in relatively low relief, she is depicted in the round.  Her relationship to Fort Monroe is unknown.  Fort Monroe, called Fortress Monroe on this spoon and another, accession no. 1971.1142, is in Hampton, Virginia, where the James River empties into Chesapeake Bay.  The fort  was built in 1834, improving fortifications that had been there since the early 1600s. It was decommissioned in 2011.