Tall Case Clock

The Old Stone House was constructed in ca 1765 and is one of the oldest buildings in Washington, DC. It has been witness to the changing landscape of our nation's capital. Over the course of its history, the house has had many owners and tenants. One of these tenants was John Suter, Jr., a clock maker who rented the house from his mother-in-law in 1800. Located along Bridge Street (present day M Street NW), the front room of the house faced onto the busy commercial corridor of Georgetown and would have housed Suter's clock making shop for a short time. It is unknown if this tall case or "grandfather"� clock was created in this house, but it is the only object in the site's museum collection that is directly related to an occupant of the house. This tall case, which is on exhibit in the second floor dining room of the house, bears Suter's signature in the middle of the clock face. The detailing of the clock face includes a personified image of the sun, peering down from clouds, and this feature turns to indicate day and night. At either end of the archway are small, printed maps of the western and eastern hemisphere, showing the continents as they were usually shown in the 1700s and early 1800s–minus South America, which inexplicably does not appear.