Souvenir spoon: Fort Monroe
Concord, New Hampshire
1895-1915
Maker
William B Durgin Co. (1853-1924)
Measurements
4-1/4 in x 7/8 in x 5/8 in
Materials
Silver with a gold-washed bowl
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1142
Inscription
“FORTRESS / MONROE” is in the bowl. “STERLING” and a Durgin Company touchmark of on the back of the handle.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
This relatively simple souvenir spoon has a relief fleur-de-lis on the handle tip and “FORTRESS MONROE” in the bowl. It is otherwise undecorated. Fort Monroe, located in Hampton, Virginia, where the James River empties into Chesapeake Bay, was built in 1834, improving fortifications that had been there since the early 1600s. The fort has a rich history through 2011, when it was decommissioned.
There are few clues in the spoon that might suggest when it was made. Because of its simplicity, it may have been produced after about 1900, rather than in the 1890s when competing souvenir spoons were so ornate.
