The myth and mystery behind the Southern huntboard is as entertaining as the unique pieces are rare.

It's a crisp, late fall day in the Georgia Piedmont, somewhere in the rolling hills around Athens, circa 1850, and the huntsman is calling in the hounds as the plantation owner and his guests urge their weary steeds down an avenue of overarching oaks.

Observing a ritual as old as their sport, the members of the hunting party ride onto the spacious lawn in front of their host's Greek Revival mansion and head for welcome liquid refreshments brought outdoors by the household servants.

In a scene that would not be unfamiliar to their English counterparts, the Southern aristocrats, still astride their steaming thoroughbreds, reach down with ease to take their drinks from the tops of specially designed, long-legged wooden servers known, for obvious reasons, as huntboards.

Whoa, there. Let's rein in this particular fantasy, attractive as it is, before it becomes accepted huntboard lore. Unfortunately, it's much too late to do that, sort of like shutting the barn door after the horses have departed.

It is widely accepted fact, however, that those tired but happy hunters, equally eager to imbibe and stretch their legs after long hours in the saddle, found the chest-high huntboard commodious in permitting them to serve themselves liberally while standing. No need to further chafe already tender extremities by sitting down to drink.

Honestly, there is no evidence to support that theory either.

Truth to tell, no one really seems to know for certain how the huntboard evolved or exactly how it was used. One Savannah antiques dealer has an interesting theory, but more on that later.

Huntboards have traditionally been considered one of four uniquely Southern furniture forms, the other three being sugar chests, liquor chests or cellarettes and turn-top tables, also known as Lazy Susans.

The archetypal Georgia version of the huntboard is very like a sideboard, but several inches taller on average and often more crudely made. In fact, the tallest huntboard found in a 1980s survey of Georgia furniture reached almost 50 inches.

In general, huntboards had large drawers but no doors and minimal decorative elements, were often made of painted heart pine, poplar or native Georgia birch and stood high on spindly tapered legs. There are also examples made of walnut or cherry, but those are much rarer. The fact that there are numerous exceptions to these guidelines explains a large part of the huntboard's attraction for collectors, and in some circles, huntboards attained the status of folk art.

A wave of interest in the huntboard swept Georgia in the wake of the 1976 publication of Henry Green's book, "Furniture of the Georgia Piedmont before 1830," which served as a catalogue for an exhibit of the same name that year at Atlanta's High Museum. Enthusiasm for the form was reinforced by the Atlanta Historical Society's 1983 show and its catalogue, "Neat Pieces, The Plain-style furniture of 19th Century Georgia."

Green, an expert on Southern decorative arts, wrote that he had heard many explanations for how the huntboard got its name, but "none have the ring of authenticity." His research showed that no household furnishing called a huntboard was mentioned in any estate documents of the period before 1830.

He said that huntboards follow no set pattern or period style, they come in all shapes and sizes and no two are alike, hence the designation as folk art. Green guessed they were made by itinerant cabinetmakers that traveled the state, stopping to build furniture in towns where their services were required.

The antiques trade in huntboards has slowed in recent years, although Savannah dealers say demand is still high.

Problem is, huntboards don't grow on trees.

A recent informal survey of local antiques dealers got pretty much the same reaction across the board. Dealers say they could easily sell good huntboards in the current market, and that prices for them remain high, but there are few pieces to be had.

Lee Smith, owner of Southern Antiques and Interiors, gave a bit more detail in his response to the survey.

"The market is still strong, demand is high and it has been steady all along (since the boom of the 1980s)," Smith said. He said he is actively seeking a huntboard for his shop and would "bid aggressively" if he saw a good one at auction.

Smith said the demand is strongest among collectors outside the Savannah area, if not in fact outside the state, though some potential local customers could be found at the Landings on Skidaway Island.

Hard use took its toll on huntboards and when the original owners got tired of repairing and repainting these pieces, huntboards probably were turned into firewood, Smith said. Consequently, not that many have survived. The best ones are now either in museums or private homes.

Elbert County, Ga., 1810-1830. Primary and secondary woods: Yellow pine. H. 49 7/8, W. 43 3/4, D. 19 1/4.
From: Neat Pieces, The Plain Style Furniture of 19th Century Georgia, The Atlanta Historical Society

"It (huntboard) was a lowly piece of furniture when it was made, for use outside. It was roughhewn and it got rough use. Now, its become opulent rustic and it goes in some fairly elegant settings," Smith said.

One Savannah dealer, Alex Raskin, has a slightly different take on the huntboard situation. He feels the huntboard is just another variety of sideboard, not necessarily a distinct form, and was not made for use outside. The primitive look of some huntboards is the result of the maker's lack of sophistication. The ones he has seen are as well made as any primitive furniture.

Raskin says a substantial number of fakes were made during the height of the huntboard vogue and there are a lot of reproductions still being made. But the supply of real huntboards, or primitive sideboards, has not run out. He still sees them, although with legs cut down and otherwise altered. Most have long since been stripped of their original paint. "The ones with original paint are really rare and very desirable," he said.

Raskin's version of the huntboard story is supported by Ronald Hurst and Jonathan Prown in their massive book, "Southern Furniture, 1680-1830." Hurst and Prown, drawing on research done by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), cut right to the chase.

They report that MESDA looked at thousands of 18th and 19th century cabinetmakers' advertisements, estate inventories and accounts of Southern hunting practices, and never came across the term "hunt board" or any reference to the outdoor use of sideboards or high serving tables.

They write that, along with names like "grandfather clock" and "highboy," "hunt board" was likely popularized by Victorians who "looked longingly at the past through rose-colored glasses."

Hurst and Prown are convinced that crude huntboards were used indoors in exactly the same way as other sideboards and their lack of refinements and decoration are no indication they were intended for outdoor use.

The surfaces of these forms were comparatively free of decoration, not because they were intended for outdoor use by huntsmen, but because most were made by rural artisans for customers with conservative tastes and sometimes modest means."

Now to that theory of the huntboard's evolution: It was formulated by Alex Raskin, based on his observations of huntboards and other primitive Georgia furniture that has come through his shop.

Raskin believes that the unusually high sideboards known as huntboards are actually evolved from the Elizabethan court cupboards that, early in the history of Southern decorative arts, functioned as sideboards in the dining rooms of early plantations.

The 17th century court cupboard in its Southern incarnation tended to be plainer than its New England cousins --- but had the same characteristic configuration of a case or cabinet on legs with a low shelf, the whole piece visually enlivened with bosses and half-turnings applied as surface ornament.

Recent studies have shown that Elizabethan speech patterns and music had some influence on the development of those forms of expression in some areas of the South. Raskin believes that the so-called huntboard is a descendant of the court cupboard raised on 1780s Hepplewhite legs.

Jim Gannam is a furniture restorer who works in Savannah.