[SUBMITTED PHOTO]One can only imagine the music this spinet has provided since it was brought to Botetourt by the Crawford family in 1740. It was made by Thomas Hitchcock in London, circa 1720, and is identical to one in the Smithsonian collection. The sound is created by quills that pluck the strings. The black “skunk keys” have strips of ivory running down their centers. This “bent side” spinet has five octaves from GG to g3. It was donated to the Botetourt History Museum in 1968 by the descendants of William Crawford, Mrs. Frank W. Robertson and Mrs. Harvey E. Erb. The Colonial Williamsburg Museum borrowed this spinet, restored it and exhibited it in the museum there before returning it to the Botetourt Museum.
