Eugene E. Landon of Montoursville became a master woodworker, using 18th century tools and methods for all of his work, after selling his chemical company. His work can be found in private homes, major museums, and even in the White House.
When the last standing Liberty Tree, in Annapolis, fell in hurricane Floyd - it was Landon that was chosen to create items from the wood. With it, he made the wooden eagle that stands in Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, two bible boxes (presented to Presidents Bush and Carter) A Yoke to hold an exact replica of the Liberty bell, carved wooden busts of Lincoln and Washington, at least one bowl (auctioned off in McClure) .
I first came across Landon's work while attending a lecture in Welch Hall on the Lycoming College campus. In the entrance is a large case clock, with a medallion that says Eugene Landon, Montoursville.
Not being familiar with a Montoursville Clockmaker, I was intrigued. An inscription on the inside has the date of 2007. That's when a woman in the hall with me recognized his name and told me that he was the "one who made furniture out of the Liberty Tree."
And yet again I find myself wondering, "How did I not know this?"
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LIBERTY TREE PROJECTS
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"On April 14, 1765, a crowd of angry Bostonians formed below a large tree at the corners of Essex and Orange Streets. Britain had just passed the Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on popular paper products, and the Massachusetts colonists were not happy about it. Protestors used the tree’s branches to string up effigies of government administrators who enforced the new taxes, accompanied by a sign which read, “What Greater Joy did ever New England see than a Stampman hanging on a Tree!”
As war began to break out in 1775, , British soldiers and Loyalists cut down the tree, hoping to bring a symbolic end to the protests. However, "Liberty Trees" colonists had been planting Liberty Trees up and down the Eastern seaboard, beginning 10 years earlier, in 1765. By the time the Boston tree was cut down, there were hundreds of Liberty Trees. Some of them were destroyed during the war, they were purposefully targeted by British soldiers. Still, some remained.
Over time, the remaining trees all died, were cut down, or destroyed by storms. The last to remain, or at least the last known to remain, was in Annapolis Maryland. It was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
Half of the wood from that tree was purchased by Taylor Guitars. They crafted and sold 400 Limited Edition Guitars made from that wood.
The rest of the wood was acquired by Providence Forum. That group set out to find someone to preserve it, by making it into various objects. A man n New Mexico contacted them and recommended Landon.
Annapolis Liberty Tree, 1907
"So I went to Annapolis and looked at this warehouse full of chunks and pieces of this huge old tree. The tree was 800 years old or older; it was ten feet around and it was just a huge old tree. It was hollow inside, so you had all of these round pieces that were thirteen inches deep but it was just a ring around the tree. After talking with him, I decided to do it."
The wood was sent to Lewis Lumber, where it was cut into useable sections. "Even the sawdust was saved" said Gene. "They made paper out of it."
The Providence Forum commissioned Landon to build two Bible Boxes (out of Liberty Tree wood) which were presented to President George W. Bush in 2001 and President Jimmy Carter in 2002."
"Well, in fact I made a box for President Bush and Jane and Ben and I went down and spent half an hour in the Oval Office with President Bush. And that was fun because he is just the nicest guy. We laugh and we spent a whole half hour with him." Landon also took President Bush a bronze casting of the Lincoln bust that he had carved for Dr. Templeton. Another casting of that bust was donated to the Taber Museum in Williamsport.Gene Landon with President Carter
Other liberty tree projects by Landon included:
- A Bowl - Auctioned off at the McClure Relay For Life Auction in 2003
- A Giant Eagle with a six foot wing span for Constitution Hall in Philadelphia
- A Yoke to hold an exact replica of the Liberty bell (constructed by Penn College Students, finished by Landon)
- A bust of Lincoln, and a bust of Washington
- A Reproduction of the Rising Sun chair used by George Washington during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
The largest piece from the Liberty Tree Wood - A Giant Eagle
It is now on display in the lobby of Constitution Hall in Philadelphia
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In 2001, after suffering a heart attack, he arranged for Penn College students to make the wooden yoke from which an exact Liberty Bell replica would hang as it is displayed around the nation. The yoke was made from wood from the last remaining Liberty Tree, a 600 year old Tulip Poplar from Maryland, which had been damaged in hurricane Floyd. After the students finished the construction, it was to be transported to Landon's shop where he would put a uniform finish on it.
https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2001/11/09/cabinetmaking-students-faculty-craft-yoke-for-liberty-bell-replica
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After carving the bust of George Washington for Mr. Templeton, Gene made at least 20 bronze castings of the carving. In 2017 Susan G.S. Anderson, D.M.D., and her husband Dan Llewellyn donated #6 of 20 to the Taber Museum in Williamsport.
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The Rising Sun Chair
"Franklin, looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that Painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. I have said he, often and often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun.
Franklin made these observations at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The original chair, made of mahogany, was built by John Folwell in 1779. This is the chair George Washington sat in while helping to write the constitution of the united states.
Landon's astounding reputation made him the obvious choice when the National Constitution center was looking for a craftsman to create a reproduction of the chair.
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The wood for the face of the sun on the reproduction chair was from the last Liberty Tree. The leather that Landon chose was made from reindeer hides which were tanned by Russian artisans in 1785. The rolls of leather were cargo on a brigantine named Die Frau Metta Catharina, which had set sail a year later from St. Petersburg, Russia, for Genoa, Italy. While the ship was anchored in England's Plymouth Sound, a port on the south western tip of the island, a large gale swept through and sunk the ship in about one hundred feet of water. The wreckage was later recovered in 1973 by a local diving club, who found that the lost cargo had been safely preserved by the thick mud that had covered it underwater. This red Russian leather was a luxury item in the eighteenth century and it is still highly valued today.
Landon then made a second reproduction of the Rising Sun chair, which he donated to Lycoming College. This version is without the liberty tree wood, but otherwise is identical to the first.
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Gene Landon was born in Williamsport on July 3rd 1934. He attended J. George Becht school, graduating from South Williamsport High School before attending Lycoming College, where he graduated in 1957. While in college, he was already producing reproductions of singular pieces from the eighteenth century, including open arm chairs and side tables.
Landon's interest in wood working began at a young age. One of his first pieces was a small eagle he carved as a boy scout. His grandfather was the head cabinet maker for L.L. Stearns and Sons Inc., and Landon recalls watching his grandfather work on various projects.
"I was always interested in how things were put together, whether they were chemicals or pieces of furniture:' Landon explained. I. Landon inherited his grandfather's tools when he was about eleven, helping to fuel his interest in wood working; however, he never received any traditional instruction on the techniques used in the eighteenth century.
After graduation he began working at Chemcoat in Montoursville for 6 years. He then started his own Chemical Company, Landon Chemical. Each year he made trips to Philadelphia for a business meeting and while there visited an antique shop named Buchholtz Galleries. The owner, Ted Buchholtz, became good friends with Landon and sold him various pieces which Landon then restored and sold to clients.
After 7 or 8 years, he sold his chemical company to a firm in Philadelphia. Landon then dedicated himself full time to his hobby - woodworking. He studies 18th century hand made furniture, and learned how to reproduce it.
In 1999, he, along with Steve Lash, helped establish The Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM). One of the main goals of the SAPFM was "to develop and promote a set of standards for the reproduction and preservation of period furniture."
Each year the SAPFM awards the Cartouche award to an individual or organization who has best represented the mission of demonstrating excellence in period furniture making. The award is cast in bronze from a Philadelphia tall case clock that Landon built. (The clock above is the one at Lycoming College, and I do not think it resembles the award. There is a photo of Landon standing beside a clock with this award - but I could not locate it at the moment)
In 2003, the cartouche award was presented to Eugene Landon.
When asked why he did not use power tools, he answered:
"Well, to get the 18th century look, you really - the 18th century profile on moldings and the look you get from using 18th century tools you can't get any other way. You can't get it by shapers, or routers, or anything; it has to be using 18th century tools"
Landon had over 2,000 molding planes. Winterthur curators called on him to borrow molding planes that were used on their original pieces.
His workshop was featured in a book called Great Workshops, it was the only 18th century shop in the collection. After Landon's death, a book was published by Thomas Meiller - E.E.L.: The Tool Collection of Gene Landon His extensive tool collection, which was sold at several auctions in 2011 & 2012 is shown and described in this book.
" I had the opportunity of visiting with Gene last month at the Mecca in Montoursville. I knew of Gene by reputation and had seen his work in the many articles he had written or in which he was featured, but I was unprepared for the culture shock I received upon entering his home and shop. It is the period furniture maker's mother lode. He not only furnished his home with a prodigious amount of exquisitely accurate reproductions; copies of pieces he has restored or had examined and knew inside out, he also built the house; and constructed all the architectural details. Aside from being a master cabinetmaker, dedicated to the way of the old guys, Gene is also a clock maker, a collector, a history buff, and a respected consultant to leading museum curators, and other collectors and antique dealers.
When I was leaving Gene's shop, being the skeptic that I am, I said OK Gene, where is your cordless drill? Without missing a beat, Gene said Right here. And opened a drawer and showed me a collection of 18th century hand braces... I will miss him." - Steve Lash
The Book Inspiration, Gene Landon and Seven Hearths
includes photos of Landon's home, and furniture.
In addition to using hand tools, he also used a special hide glue that could be heated up to release the joint between two pieces of wood. A craftsman using this glue could simply heat the glue, remove the joint, and try again, if he was unhappy with how the wood had lined up. Hr purchased much of his hardware - locks, hinges, nails - from blacksmiths in England who produced them with the same methods and tools used by the original smiths.
He once pointed out handmade rose-head nails used for the Logan Philadelphia secretary desk he made. The nails cost him $l.00 each from a blacksmith using authentic production methods.
He also used a walnut shell stain that he made himself "It's a natural finish. It's a finish they would have used in the eighteenth century", he said.
Landon shared his expertise with students, teaching classes at the Olde Mill Cabinet Shop in York Pa. "Gene Landon Masterwork Plans" can be purchased through Olde Mill. https://oldemill.com/
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In 2025, the Taber House LLWS pin featured Landon's Case Clock.
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READ MORE
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- Fine Woodworking No.174, the 2004/2005 tools and shops issue.
- https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2001/11/09/cabinetmaking-students-faculty-craft-yoke-for-liberty-bell-replica
- "SAPFM Advisory Board Member Biographies:' Society of American Period Furniture Makers. http:/ /
- www.sapfm.org/bios.php (accessed October 17,2009).
- https://tabermuseum.org/news/2017-news-articles/bronze-casting-landon-bust-donated-taber
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Eugene E. Landon, 76, of 144 Quaker State Road Montoursville, passed away Wednesday, June 1, 2011, at the Muncy Valley Skilled Nursing Unit. He was born July 3, 1934, in Williamsport, the son of Elmer H. and Kathryn M. Miller Landon.
Gene had owned and operated Landon Chemical Inc. and also repaired and restored 18th century furniture and made reproductions of the same. During his career he taught 18th century furniture making at Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe in York, Pa., and was a founding member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. He has many pieces of furniture he made or restored in many museums across the United States including the White House. A life size eagle he carved out of the last living Liberty Tree located at St. John's College, Annapolis Md., is displayed at the Constitution Center, along with a copy of the Rising Sun Chair that he made.
He was a member of Messiah Lutheran Church; the Dietrick Lamade Lodge No. 755 F&AM, the Tiadaghton Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and was a veteran of the United States Army.
He is survived by his wife, the former Jane Keyte with whom he would have celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on August 22; his son, Benjamin E. Landon of South Williamsport; his sister, Marjorie L. Bieber of Montoursville; and many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his sister, Beverly Morehart, of Montgomery.
A memorial service will be held 4 p.m. Saturday June 11, 2011, at Messiah Lutheran Church, 324 S. Howard St., South Williamsport with the Rev Maurice C. Frontz III officiating. Friends will be received on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made either to the Susquehanna Heart Center, c/o Providence Health System Foundation, 1001 Grampian Blvd., Williamsport, PA 17701, or to the Messiah Lutheran Church. Arrangements are by Spitler Funeral Home, Montoursville.
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