Cedar chests traditionally have been given to young women who were planning to get married. In centuries past, teenage girls stored linens in these ”hope chests.” Because every item was hand sewn, ...

When Nora Lenehan was 19 her farming parents took her to a small department store in Ohio to pick out her hope chest.The one she chose is mahogany lined with cedar. Like the one her mother had ...

Traditionally, a cedar chest (or “hope chest”) was used to store linens that made up part of a bride’s dowry, because the fragrance of cedar discouraged moths. A cedar chest still makes a spectacular ...

The purpose of a hope chest was to collect small, useful items for the bride-to-be Historically, these chests were referred to as a dowry chest You don’t hear or see much these days in the U.S. about ...

A year ago last December, Christine Coch spotted a Pennsylvania Dutch-style hope chest in a Mt. Clemens, Mich., furniture store, fell in love with it and decided she must have it. Her parents didn`t ...

n an era when little girls are no longer being brought up to believe that the arrival of their Prince Charming on his great white steed will guarantee a “happily ever after” life, a hope chest is an ...

It’s lined with cedar wood, to protect the fabrics placed inside. And there are those. Some embroidered linens, which I sent from Europe many years ago. There’s also a battered ceramic statue of Saint ...