wenty years ago, Park and Jeanette Pigott spotted a late 19th-cen-
tury oak fireplace mantel with a mirror and columns at an Atlanta
flea market.  Dissatisfied with the string of elaborately decorated,
but cheaply made, reproduction mantels they had purchased for
their home, they bought the mantel on the spur of the moment.
Once it was installed in their Atlanta home, the Pigotts received
numerous compliments and inquiries about their purchase. Park,
then in commercial finance, sensed a great business opportunity.  In 1988, after the
couple's 22-year-old daughter scouted many antiques and architectural design shops
in the Atlanta area to determine if there was a market for antique mantels, the
Pigotts opened a shop of their own---Mantels of Yesteryear.
     Located in the tiny hamlet of McCaysville in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains
near the Tennessee border, Mantels of Yesteryear occupies a former automobile
dealership building.  In place of cars, the plate-glass display windows feature 50
antique mantels.  The business, which started in the family's garage, has expanded
to include an inventory of about 100 items. The Pigotts have visited as many as 42
antiques fairs a year, from Brimfield, Massachusetts, to Round Top/Warrenton,
Texas, with a cargo trailer that opens up to become a showroom. As this is a family
business, Park is the chief truck driver and salesman.  His wife and son, Park III, are
in the workshop restoring pieces.  "Jeanette's a perfectionist," says Park.  "The qual-
ity of her work is the best you can get anywhere."
   The antiques come from wrecking companies and antiques dealers throughout
the country.  Each mantel is taken apart (some into as many as 60 pieces) and
stripped of all traces of paint.  They are then cleaned, restored, and air-dried before
 finally being reassembled. The entire process takes about seven days in their state-

O P P O S I T E  A B O V E:  A circa 1885 man-
tel, removed from an Alabama home,  fea-
tures carved Neoclassical motifs.
O P P O S I T E   B E L O W   L E F T: The line of reproductions from Mantels of Yesteryear
includes the oak mantel with Ionic capi-
tals and dentil molding, right, which
was copied from the cherry example, dat-
ing to the 1880's, on the left.  Full-mantels,
which include an overmantel, are also
reproduced by the Pigotts.
O P P O S I T E   B E L O W   R I G H T: Corner
blocks from doorjambs and window
 frames, bought by the Pigotts from wreck-
ing companies across the country, are
stripped and restored for use in crafting
custom-ordered mantels.
A B O V  E:  As many as 100 restored man-
tels line the 10,000-square-foot show-
room.  Although the collection of full-
and half-mantels changes constantly, styles
regularly represented are Georgian, Fed-
eral, English Tudor, and Mission.
F O R  D E T A I L S  S E E  R E S O U R C E S