The Cup

In the bottom floor of the Henry Sheldon museum, there is a small box with several odd objects that don’t seem to fit in to any one specific theme. One object is a small wooden cup that is shaped like a modern wine glass. Seen in reality, this cup is very small that one would wonder if humans were actually supposed to drink out of it; it almost seems to us like a kid’s toy. However, a tag is attached with a note that reveals something. It states, “This little cup is made of part of the Alden House built in Boston about 1660” (Sheldon, n.d.). This tells us that it is a souvenir of the Alden House and with no signs of wear or use on the item, we can assume that it was most likely a display item.  

The wood from which the cup was made takes us way back to 1620, when the Mayflower arrived in Cape Cod and a town called Plymouth became the pilgrim’s first settlement. John Alden and his wife, Priscilla, were among these settlers (Alden Kindred, 2017). The core of the present Alden House was built by their son, John Jr. Alden (Alden Kindred, 2017). The Alden Kindred, founded in 1890s by the descendants of the Alden family, estimates that this house was built circa 1700 (Alden Kindred, 2017). While it is unknown when this cup was created or who carved it, we can be sure that its material origin dates back to the colonial period of America.