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Many of today’s tables are designed after the trestle table which dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the popular style in the 14th century. A very practical design, it is simply a matter of laying a few boards across two stands. You will see this design employed in modern day picnic tables to Amish hand-crafted dining tables.

During the day the common room or the great hall as they were known was again cleared and used as the Lords deemed fit. As time went on castles became a symbol of power and less as a place of defense and population centers grew also known as cities. Castles and manors were functioning more like homes which needed furniture and craftsmen started to build more ornate pieces. Around the 1500′s the trestle table became an important piece of furniture.

Designs ranged from plain and very utilitarian to very regal and ornately decorated. Sawbuck, melon-turn and slab-side were the popular choices of style. Sawbuck is an X-shape support system, a sawbuck device used in holding the wood is where the named derives from. Melon-turned was spherical and very ornate rounded post ends, a predecessor to the pedestal design. The slab-sided design is slabs of wood possibly decorated and placed vertically holding the ends up between the trestles.

In the 16th century the basic trestle design was made more static and the gate-leg and refractory tables were created. With the ease of assembly and storage this design of table has been very popular to this day as those seated are not effected by the legs of a traditional table with fixed corner legs.

Today the trestle table can be seen in designs of outdoor furniture like picnic tables to handcrafted Amish dining tables. Americana is a well-known and loved traditional Amish style as are Shaker and Arts and Crafts Mission style. Like the table of the Middle Ages, the Mission style is braced together using a stretcher beam and keyed tenon through the center of every trestle.

Modern finishes are much different than those of the Middle Ages as sandpaper didn’t exist. Back then craftsmen had to scrape the pieces of wood together to get a smooth surface. Trestle tables took a lot of abuse in the old days and to achieve that look today you could take a chain and beat the finished piece to give it a distressed look. Years and years of feasts with kings and their courts resting their elbows on the tables wearing out the edges to give them their character.

The predecessor to the trestle table was called the table board and frame style, being a long plank of wood resting on a frame of several trestles also called horizontal beams. The legs were designed to be easily dismantled for storage and were very practical for travelling. The bridges of wood were pegged and braced to he tabletop.

Trestle designs were used by the military in the field, placed in wagons or used on ships. They were mentioned in writings by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has a portrait of one in their collection showing it as one of the earliest examples as an art piece, an important piece of American history.

Get a beautiful trestle table to your home. A gorgeous choice of any trestle tables would add a wonderful look to your dining area. Head online and find your table today.

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