Seth Hinshaw <sethhinshaw@hotmail.com> wrote:The type of door being described was a standard door construction of the Colonial era. Architectural historians call it a six-paneled door, mostly to distance it from the common name of "cross over open Bible" door. While the placement of the lockrail and stiles provides a stylized cross over an open Bible, or in some cases in New England the so-called "cross over cross" door, architectural historians have found no writing from Colonial times which discusses the significance of the arrangement of door panels. This is rather significant, since other things of far lesser importance are discussed in the primary source material. Also, the connection of Friends with the six-paneled door should be tempered. I have seen this door in many Colonial houses, including Quaker, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or other. If anything, the type of hinge holding the door says more about the people living in the house than the door itself. One thing of some significance is that the molding pattern of the door panels of these six-paneled doors went out of style in the early nineteenth century. What I am talking about is a panel whose face rises to the same height as the face of the rails and stiles of the door, and the edges of the panels have either a single bead or a double bead. For the most part, at least in the areas I am familiar with, after 1830 this particular panel technique disappeared except for the partition walls of Friends meeting houses. Seth Hinshaw _________________________________________________________________ Seth, this is very interesting. I will have to look more closely at the doors at the Stillwater Meeting House. Are these of thee type you describe? Bernie Naylor --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.