RARE AND IMPORTANT ALAMANCE / CHATHAM CO., NORTH CAROLINA WALNUT WALL KNIFE BOX, hand-wrought nail construction, the slant-front case featuring a highly figured face with molded top edge, scroll-top ends and conforming center divider, and a backboard topped with a boldly cut-out scrolling pediment featuring a central inverted heart having interior spurs. The interior retains its original padding at the bottom to protect the blade points and exhibits the expected blade cut marks from use. Retains an outstanding early, and likely original dry surface. Along with a granny note written on Guilford College stationery, "Knife Box. Made by Hugh Woody about 1822 - for his daughter Mary Woody who married Joseph Dixion, '12 mo 19th 1822'. Presented to 'Mary Joe Dixon' great-grand-daughter of Mary Woody & Joseph Dixon for her wedding Aug. 7, 1928, 106 years after her great-great-grand-father presented it to his daughter 'May' - (a lovely Quaker maiden of 21 years)"; also in slightly later pen "Aunt Royal Dixon White's note re the Knife Box." to upper right corner. Hugh Woody (1770-1825), Snow Camp, Alamance Co., NC. Circa 1820. 17 1/2" H, 9 1/4" W, 4 1/2" D.
Catalogue Note: The present box is a significant, documented example of a long-misunderstood Southern form. Georgia decorative arts scholar Dale Couch has been documenting this form in Georgia and the surrounding regions for several years. His research suggests that this form was used as a storage box for butchering and other long-blade cutting knives, rather than the long-held interpretation of its use for candles or pipes. The discovery of the present example, with the family note headed "Knife Box," and the presence of padding in the interior bottom, both firmly establish the original usage of these slant-front wall boxes.
Maker Hugh Woody was a wealthy Quaker wheelwright and sawmill operator who had properties in Orange, Alamance, and Chatham counties. He attended and is buried at Cane Creek Monthly Meeting in Alamance County. He is recorded in the MESDA Craftsman database (#81466), although no work of his is documented.

Very good overall condition, the pediment has an old repair to a break, resulting in a narrow loss to the interior and the back, along with losses of the upper spurs.

From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, VA.
Purchased at Alex Cooper Auctions, Baltimore, MD, in 1998.
Descended from Mary Woody Dixon (1801-1861), to her son Hugh Woody Dixon (1825-1901), to his son Joseph Moore Dixon (1867-1934), who presented it to his daughter Mary Joe Dixon (1906-1998), namesake of the original owner Mary Woody Dixon, on the occasion of her marriage to Ralph Gormon Hills (1902-1977). Both Mary and Ralph died in Baltimore, MD. Aunt Roxie Dixon White (1863-1938), who penned the "Granny" note, was the sister of Joseph Moore Dixon.