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This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Copyright © 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Lumber Room

by William S. Powell, 2006

See also: Travelers' Rooms

"Lumber room" was a term applied to a room in a home or an out-building in which seldom-used objects were stored if it seemed they might be of use in the future. A North Carolina law enacted in 1715 required that "Household Stuffs & Lumber" being held for a minor orphan, should, if the goods might deteriorate with age, be "sold at Publick Outcry" and the money held for the orphan until he came of age. In the epilogue to his three-act comedy, Nolens Volens; or, The Bitter Bit, published in New Bern in 1809, playwright Everard Hall took little pride in his work and conceded that "his play may rank with useless lumber."

Additional Resources:

Clark, Walter, editor. "An Act Concerning Orphans." Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1715 - 1716. Colonial and State Records of North Carolina 23. Goldsboro, N.C.: Nash Brothers. 1905. p.70-71. https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr23-0001#p23-70.

"As a Lawyer." The Papers of Thomas Ruffin, Volume 1. Raleigh, N.C.: Edwards and Broughton. 1918. p.39. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/papers-of-thomas-ruffin-vol.-1/2149042?item=2238726.

Purnell, T. R. "Report of State Librarian." Executive and Legislative documents laid before the General Assembly of North-Carolina, Session 1873-'74. Raleigh, N.C.: Josiah Turner, Jr. 1874. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/executive-and-legislative-documents-laid-before-the-general-assembly-of-north-carolina-1873-1874/1955656?item=2099039.

Subjects: 
American Revolution (1763-1789)
Architecture
Colonial period (1600-1763)
Early Statehood (1789-1820)
Authors: 
Powell, William S.
From: 
Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 2006 | Powell, William S.