This Almodington bench is a document or exact copy of the earliest known wooden garden bench in America, made for Almodington Plantation house in Somerset County, Maryland, circa 1750. The design with a diagonally slatted four panel back was taken from an 18th century English design book and the bench was originally of local yellow pine. Benches of this type were called "garden seats" in the 18th century. This document copy is of yellow pine and is painted white, as was the original. Almodington probably had a pair of these benches facing each other at the porch entrance to the historic house facing the Manokin River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The original Almodington bench is now in the collection of MESDA, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston Salem, N.C. Ref: Almodington/ MESDA. 45 inches high, 96 inches wide and 29 inches deep.