Solid Cedar

Solid Cedar

Timeless Cedar Hope Chest

Nothing speaks of sentimental style more than a beautiful chest. There is something special about giving or receiving these chests and not only will you be able to give them something useful, you’ll also be able to give them a gift that is traditionally associated with good feelings and warmth.

A sturdy wooden chest, like one made of cedar, has always served the function of keeping valuable articles safe. Throughout history, migrating families have always brought these trunks across borders and oceans as they settled in new lands. The requisite locks kept their things safe, and the drawers or miniature boxes held smaller precious items like silverware or jewelry.

In later centuries, and predominantly in American families, wooden chest becomes the gift for a marriage. The girl will receive the wooden chest from her mother and all the things she needed for maried will be put into the chest. Until the 1950s, married life was the only ideal path for proper American women. Assembling a hope chest was part of a girl’s careful and ritual-filled journey towards that most important event in her life.

And when she finally embarks on married life, the chest becomes emptied out as she starts to take care of her new home and growing family. Over time the chest becomes filled again, as she places into it the new memories and keepsakes she has accumulated with her husband and children. Eventually she will pass down this memory-filled artifact to her own daughter, and the cycle of hope-building will begin all over again.

Most of the chests are not longer made out of cherry or oak any more. Majority are made out of cedar because cedar has the ability to repel moth. The wooden chests usually have decoration or craving that represent one’s family culture or origins. These signs or decorations are meant to project the proud owner of the box back in those days.

During World War II, a former ammunition-box manufacturer in America became the foremost producer of the cedar chest, advertising greatly its value of storing memories and promises for the women whose loved one was away and fighting in the war. Since then, the cedar chest has been viewed as the perseverance of a piece of true Americana.

Despite the radical differences in circumstances, the cedar chest remains an indispensible component of the American family’s home. Nowadays these chests are used primarily as classic home decorating pieces. A chest adds an air of warmth and personality to a bedroom or living room. Usually regarded as antiques, they lend a lived-in feel to the space.

But more than using them as pretty displays, it might be a wonderful project to revive the significance of these treasure boxes, and gain new ways to preserve family memories and history. Aside from that, the cedar chest are being used to store things that meant to be passed down to future generation. When Heirlooms or mementos that are meant to pass down from generation to generation have no better place to be kept than the cedar chests. If you do notice, as the chest been passed down, the value of the chest will increase, possibly a rival to the Egyptian’s treasure boxes.

A chest opens up to reveal a pile of valuable things and memories, but it has its uses as solid closed box, too. In bedrooms, wooden chests are usually placed at the foot of the bed to serve as pillow rests or as an impromptu bench. There are times a closed flat-lid chest are being used as small coffee table in the lounge or living hall. As you can see, how you can use the chest can be limitless.

The bigger chest can be used to store those rarely-used clothes or linens in it. For instances, those seasonal clothes like sweaters can be stored inside until winter comes around. It can be also good storage place for the children to have their toys stored inside. It can serve as a memory for them when they grow up.

Speaking of the memory box we mentioned earlier on, baby clothes, first items like baseball gloves, dolls, or letters are things which can be considered for that reason. When children grow up, they will enjoy reliving special moments every time they open the chest. A memory box then becomes a tactile and extraordinary three-dimensional scrapbook of sorts. The contents and value of this chest can change along with the child as they both gain years. Eventually a child can bring a cedar chest along to his or her new home, as a reminder of childhood and history.

There are more than just holding the memories in the chest alone. It can used to be a storage place that presents the specialize skills that run in the family. For instance, the secret recipe can be stored in the family, only allowing the family members to have assess to it alone only. Generally, the items that represents one’s family skill are to be stored inside the chest.

Children have always enjoyed “discovering” treasures, in whatever form it comes in. When a child is presented with a hope chest, he or she will certainly feel that spark of amazement and wonder when the lid is opened and its contents are revealed to him or her for the first time. A child will be honored to be the next keeper of a chest that he or she remembers from the past. When a parent or elder relative shows great consideration for taking care of preserving memories and heirlooms, the younger ones are definite to follow suit.

The modern world is a fast-paced one. Thanks to technology and advancements in science and exploration, everything happens faster than ever, and people tend to place a premium on getting things quicker, cheaper, and easier. News around the world can be received within seconds. Food can be microwaved and cooked within minutes And because our tools and machines are also always being updated, the mentality is always to discard the old and traditional to give way to the new and more efficient. Material things have almost ceased to have meaning attached to them, save for the function that they serve.

The trend now is to rediscover history, to return to roots in order to be certain of identity and to gain a sense of personal pride. Wooden chests, and the ritual of keeping things inside them, have a strong presence through the line of tradition.

The cedar chest is the perfect chest to have all the family valuables to stored it. This could be a good constant reminder of the pasts for the younger generation. It is up to the owner of the chest to define the value of the chest. If the owner just simply utilize it to keep some normal items, then it will not be as valuable as a chest contain a family histories and secrets.

Hope is what motivated countless of people to stay alive and should not be lost in this modern society nowadays. Even so, hope should be passed down to the younger generation, reminding them not to give up in life. The treasures that are put into a hope chest are meant to preserve important memories, be inherited by future generations, outlast lifetimes, and create legacies.

About the Author

Joey is a part-time woodworker, a substitute teacher and a lover of fine dining!

You can find many of his favorite chests at amish cedar chest.

Hikin’ into Hercules
Less than a half hour from the glitz and throb of Branson, Missouri waits a glorious area of peace and damn quiet: Hercules Glade Wilderness. Hercules consists of over 12,000 acres of mixed oak-hickory forest and cedar glades.
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