Washington Slept Here. Hemp Canvas Helped Bring It Back to Life.
Some projects are about making a product. This one was about bringing history back to life.
Late last year, Stephen Krentler of Krentler Associates ordered a roll of our 20oz heavy hemp canvas for a job unlike most that come through our doors. He and his team were building reproduction camp beds, the folding cots that soldiers and staff used in the field, modeled on an original piece from the 18th century.
Their destination was the Dey Mansion in Wayne, New Jersey. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, the resident will: General George Washington used the mansion as his military headquarters across the summer and fall of 1780. It’s one of the few Washington field headquarters still standing today, and during his stays his staff included names like Alexander Hamilton. Steve’s reproduction camp beds were built for the rooms and wide halls where that staff most likely slept.
For a build like this, the material has to earn its place. A historic site recreating an authentic 18th century look can’t lean on synthetic shortcuts. It needs fibers that belong to the period, and it needs them to hold up under real use. Hemp canvas fits on both counts. Hemp has been woven into sailcloth, tenting, and heavy utility fabric for centuries, so it’s true to the era. And at 20oz, our canvas carries the weight and structure a folding cot demands.
The site is dressing the beds out with straw filled mattresses, blankets, coverlets, and reproduction clothing to complete that “Washington’s staff lived here” feeling. The hemp canvas is the foundation those beds are built on.
Steve delivered the finished beds last week. In his words, the canvas worked out very well, and the site was very pleased with the results.
We couldn’t be prouder of where this one landed. From a roll of fabric in our warehouse to a piece of the American story, standing in the rooms where it was written. That’s what living better with hemp looks like.
Happy Independence Day, and here’s to 250 years.
