Students from the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center in St. Mary’s County and North Point High School in Charles County have literally been making history over the last year. The students, with help from their teachers and local businesses, have reproduced two copies of the table on which President James Madison signed the treaty that ended the War of 1812. The original of that table is on display at the Octagon House in Washington, DC.
One of the “Treaty Tables” was unveiled Wednesday at the regular St. Mary’s County Board of Education meeting. On hand for the unveiling was a key person in the project: Pat Woodburn of Woodburn’s Cabinet’s. It was at Woodburn’s shop in Leonardtown that the majority of the work was done by the students on weekends for the past year.
The Treat of Ghent (in what is now Belgium) was actually signed in late 1814 but it didn’t reach President Madison until several months later and was officially signed by him on February 17. Congress then ratified the treaty, officially ending the war.
The Octagon House was designed by William Thornton, the first architect of the United States Capitol, and built between 1799 and 1801 in Washington, D.C. It survived the
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