Seminary Journal 2008 (August) - Virginia Theological Seminary

The Chase Home in Annapolis is a retirement facility for a
small number of elderly women under the auspices of the
Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The residents’ bedrooms
are located on the upper fl oors of the city’s historic Chase-
Lloyd House. Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, started to build the house but sold it unfi
nished to Edward Lloyd IV, a wealthy local planter and
politician. It was Lloyd’s youngest daughter, Mary Tayloe,
who married Francis Scott Key, author of The Star Spangled
Banner and a founder of the Virginia Seminary.
One day in the mid-1980s, David Leighton, my predecessor
as Bishop of Maryland, received a phone call from an offi -
cial of the Chase Home, saying that the board had decided
to dispose of some of original furniture of the house that
could not be used in residents’ bedrooms nor in the fi rst
fl oor rooms that are open for public viewing. One such
item was the marriage bed of Francis Scott Key and Mary
Tayloe Lloyd. Apparently it was a custom in 18 th century
America that newly-married couples would spend their
wedding night in the bride’s home. The offi cial suggested
that perhaps the bedstead could be used in one of the guest
rooms in the bishop’s house in Baltimore. Bishop Leighton
was pleased to accept the offer, not only for the bed’s utility
but also for its intriguing historical signifi cance.
Chase Home offered to refi nish the bedstead before making
it available for the bishop’s house. By the time the refi nishing
was completed, Bishop Leighton had retired and I had
succeeded him. So Sarah and I had the task of going to Annapolis
to collect this unusual gift. We were immediately
impressed with the beauty of the gracefully hand-carved
four-poster, and were delighted to make it the centerpiece
of our principal guest room. We enjoyed telling our guests
the story of the bed, and they seemed to be delighted to use
it, though not nearly as thrilled, I imagine, as the people
who get to sleep in Abraham Lincoln’s bed in the White
House—often for a price, we are told.
After the bed was set up in the bishop’s house, I fantasized
a practical joke which in the end I didn’t have the nerve to
put into action. I wondered what would happen, if I were
to place a pressure sensitive switch under the mattress and
connect it to a CD player on the fl oor beneath the bed, cued
to a recording of The Star Spangled Banner.
VIRGINIA SEMINARY JOURNAL AUGUST 2007
Francis Scott Key’s Wedding Bed
The same quirky side of my nature makes me wonder now
what it might do for the Francis Scott Key Society, if we
were to borrow the bed from the Bishop of Maryland for a
season and offer a night’s rest upon it to those who include
VTS in their estate planning. We might even adapt the
CD hook-up idea to play Rise up, ye saints of God! Nah, the
whole idea is getting too close for comfort to the Lincoln
Bedroom syndrome.
Given the affection and loyalty of VTS alums and friends,
all we really need to do is to say, “Rise up, ye saints of
God… and do your part in providing for the long term
future of your seminary.”
Ted Eastman, ‘53
Co-Chair
Francis Scott Key Society
The Francis Scott Key bed is now in a guest room in the
Bishop of Maryland’s house in Baltimore.
Thompson/Heil Photo
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