On the Road Again (part 3)

On our last day in the Somerset, New Jersey area we drove down to Princeton to see the New Jersey sampler exhibit at the Morven Museum. What a treat that was!!

The Morven Museum is located in a house built in the 1750's by Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It later served as the governor's mansion for five of New Jersey's governors. We began our visit with a tour of the bottom floor of the home.

Next we headed upstairs to the sampler exhibit. There are 151 pieces of New Jersey embroidery on display. The pieces date from 1716 to 1860 and were worked either by New Jersey girls or by others at New Jersey schools. Most of the embroideries are samplers, but I did see one embroidered pocketbook and an embroidered globe.

We were very lucky to be at the exhibit about the time that Dan Shied gave a tour. He invited us to join the group. Photos of the exhibit are not usually allowed, but Dan was able to arrange permission for me to take several overview photos of some of the rooms for this blog. (Thanks, Dan.)

Here, Dan and I are at the beginning of the exhibit. He was very knowledgeable and personable. How lucky we were to "happen" upon a tour he was leading!

After the tour, we went to the gift shop. There were lots of wonderful things, but I focused on the sampler exhibit goodies. There were charts for three samplers from the exhibit (reproduced by The Scarlet Letter, Queenstown Samplers, and Mary Shied). I know that the Mercy Hopkins sampler has also been reproduced because I stitched it in 1998. The original sampler belongs to Colonial Williamsburg, and it was reproduced by Joanne Harvey (The Examplarery). Funny what you can find on the internet--when I googled "Mercy Hopkins sampler" I found a note I posted 16 years ago soon after I completed the sampler. (To read my posting, first click on the link above, and then you might have to click on the Examplar posting to open it.)

Here are the goodies I bought--two books and a set of sampler cards.

Thank you to the various museums and private sampler collectors who made this exhibit possible by loaning their pieces.

The sampler exhibit will be open through March 29, 2015. I hope you'll try to see it. I promise you, it is well worth the trip!