Living in your Rooms: Designing for the 21st Century

The objects we possess that hold special and important memories are the most natural and spiritual expressions of your unique “lifestyle.” Whether in art, pictures, or furniture, we hope the presence of our Manchester Wood pieces spark the same sense of positive creation in your day. After all, everything we showcase and use in our homes should accent and excite our life.

Some feel when designing rooms that a luxurious feel may mean not ideal comfort for the sake of artistic expression, but that’s not necessarily true. Luxury is found in making yourself and others completely comfortable, no desire felt by anyone to leave this oasis you created.

We believe through our coffee tables, end tables, slate-top or solid wood, tray tables, and bookcases, you’ll find the key ingredients to create a successful living space.

Your Living Room is in fact that, a room you live and share in. It’s important to think of all your rooms like that when designing and furnishing spaces. The exciting part is recognizing the change and growth you make as your rooms evolve to match the present you!

As we enter the cold months of the season here on the east coast, our outdoor interests in furnishings turn towards indoor, working on the scenery we hide in away from the cold. We hope you find what you’re looking for at Manchester Wood when designing your living spaces with quality products that will last generations.

All our furniture is proudly still made in America from solid hardwood in the Adirondack foothills of Upstate New York and the Green Mountain valleys of Vermont.

The Slate Valley

We recently visited The Slate Valley Museum in Granville, NY to further understand the fascinating history on one of the World’s richest slate deposits. The photos shown in this article, and much of the below information can be kindly found at the Museum. Please visit their website for more information.

His Grandfather is top row, 4th in from right, arm around friend (Courtesy of The Slate Valley Museum)

In preparing this article, one of Manchester Wood’s great friends and hardworking mechanics took a look at a picture from The Slate Valley Museum. It was a picture from the early 20^th century, dating back to the 20’s.

Upon looking it over, he cracked a smile and said:

“I don’t know if you’d believe me, but that’s my Grandfather right there.”

Drawing his finger down on the image, pointing in delight to a smiling young man.

Many peers and colleagues in our community work or once worked in the slate mines. We love the material they produce, not just for our products, but also for its countless other uses.

“The Slate Valley” as it’s called, is a region over twenty miles long and extends six miles wide along the New York/Vermont border from Granville, NY to Rupert, VT, and north to Fair Haven, VT.

In the early-to-mid 1800’s, slate was discovered in the area.

“The roof of a barn one mile south of Fair Haven was the first to be covered with slate in 1848. It was feared the barn would not withstand the weight of the stone. The barn is still standing today and the same slate roof is intact.” (The Slate Valley Museum Website)

Slate quarry strikes were riddling Wales, so in 1850, the first Welsh immigrants arrived. They came with experience in the art of mining. Slate companies began forming.

(Courtesy of The Slate Valley Museum)

The immigration of workers increased as the industry boomed through the early 1900’s.

From Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, and later Canada. Hardworking families arrived from all over the World, seeking the abundance of American life.

We’re happy to have known some of them, and even prouder to have their lineage working under our roof.

At Manchester Wood, we’d like to thank The Slate Valley Museum and join them in “paying tribute to these workers and their families and to preserve their way of life and their many contributions to the fabric of human history.” (The Slate Valley Museum Website)

To view our Slate Top Collection (using locally mined slate), click here.

To visit or learn more about The Slate Valley Museum, click here.

(Courtesy of The Slate Valley Museum)