John is the president of the companies. Officially, he started in the Antique business back in 1971, while the real date was at a much younger age. His trademark is juggling 10 projects at once. 

His business interests over the years number more than 50, including Woodfield's Eatery in Annapolis, Woodfield Furniture Mfg, The Blacksmith's Shop, Lincoln Antique, and Furniture Center, Maryland Shore Auctioneers and on it goes. 

When the furniture factories in the US owned by Slovenian business interests got in trouble John was asked to take control. He successfully turned things around and ultimately took ownership of those factories which he ran for another 15 years. 

He is a former subcommittee chair of the apprasial services commision for the Maryland chapter of the International Association of Appraisers as well as liason between the organization and the Maryland Auctioneers Association.

In addition to running a number of businesses, he works as an appraiser, auctioneer, business consultant, and financial counselor.

He has undergone training from institutions not limited to, but including the following: The University of Indiana, Maryland Institute College of Art, Gemological Institute Of America, International Society of Appraisers, American Society of Appraisers, Missouri Auction School and others.

John's wide range of knowledge is of particular benefit to clients as he is known for ferreting out overlooked items of high value in estate situations.

With over 25 years of experience in the antiques, estates, and home furnishings businesses, Josiah brings a tremendous level of expertise and knowledge to our customers. With a great eye for design and attention to detail, many of our custom offerings throughout the store from both our Amish and upholstery makers are his creations. In 2017, he became junior partner of Chestertown Furniture Center.

He started working with his father, John as a youth. Since, he went on to manage a midwestern furniture store at just 18 years old, and for 10 years owned a successful online furnishings business targeting sales of American and Amish handcrafted items.

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Josiah & his wife Jena own and operate local short and long term real estate rental businesses aside from his partnership at Chestertown Furniture Center. He also founded Delmarva Antiques in 2010 which continues on an online-only basis.  

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Our resident expert on American coins, currency, and jewelry, Josiah also runs the precious metals portion of our business. He takes appointments Tuesdays and Thursdays weekly, and will make a fair evaluation with offer to purchase same day. He was responsible for the discovery, provenance, and liquidation of a local Kent County collection amounting to $160,000 last year.

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As time goes by he is taking over responsibilities of the business as John steps back. Ultimately he will take over the business.  

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Al Hickman - "Hicky" has been on our staff since 1987, (just celebrated his 36th anniversary at Chestertown Antique) and is indispensable. He is in charge of customer service troubleshooting, shipping, receiving, scheduling, estate, and business removals and in short, is the engine on the train of our operation.

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Loyalty, reliability, and trustworthiness are very rare in today's world. We are thankful to have a person on our staff for these many years who epitomizes these qualities. Al is certainly indispensable to both the big picture and day to day operation of our business.

Chrissy has served on our team for over 25 years, not only handling all of our accounting and bookkeeping needs, but she can also be found daily assisting customers with their various needs.

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With a great eye for design and interior decorating, she is a great go-to resource for an opinion on style, layout, and color selections. She is very active as she has the time to help display and decorate our selections for sale.

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Shane handles the oversight and logistics of our off-site delivery operations. He can be found handling large furniture pieces with ease, having attempted and completed many difficult and dangerous deliveries with seeming ease.

His accomplishments are many. Graduated with a Master of Divinity from Crown College, Shane is an accomplished public speaker serving in various ministry capacities for over 20 years. He has worked many of those years bi-vocationally in the moving and storage businesses in upper Delaware. At one time he worked overseeing moving operations for a Delaware company with a crew of nearly 100. 

Shane is an aspiring author and currently is currently writing two books on leadership and heading up the men's leadership program "God's Garage" with several meeting locations on the Eastern Shore and Delaware.

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Serving with Chestertown Furniture Center is a stopping place on a interesting journey of life for Shane, his wife, and 4 children. He is a valued asset to our team and we hope he continues with us for years to come as he continues to pursue his other aspirations.

Ms. Lola has been a Kent County native her entire life and is a well-known face to many of our customers. She helps with our sales department and also does a wonderful job with our linens and glassware sections keeping them neatly organizing and updating with the merchandise. Her "Chan-Tily-Lace" boutique has been a great hit with our customers.

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While Ms. Lola has officially retired 4 times over the many years, now she is back again working at the store. She continues to sew and create many unusual items including "Memory Bears" which have become a local tradition for many families to preserve memories of their loved ones.

Chris' good-natured personality and eagerness to develop a strong work ethic make him an important facet of our warehouse and delivery team. He has a tenacious attitude to stick with bettering himself in spite of any hurdles life thows at him.

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He is strong as an ox coupled with a great level of moving expertise. Our customers appreciate how he regularly goes above and beyond to move difficult and large items with seeming ease. He has been dedicating himself to learning new aspects of our operations, also helping with warehousing, stocking, and assembly. His winning smile and uplifting spirit have made him a favorite of our staff and customers. We look forward to many years of continued growth at Chestertown Furniture Center for Chris as he has grown into a tremendous asset for our team.

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Chris enjoys music and enjoys recording and performing in his time off.

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Jerome Hensley - Joined our team in 2018, Jerome comes to us with many years of experience in international corporate law. He has held positions as Strategic Sourcing Officer, Contracts Manager, Procurement Manager, Export Compliance Officer, and Internal Corporate Auditor for major DC and California based companies. He now splits his time between us and being a Local Area Realtor at CR Realty in Centreville MD.

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After traveling the world negotiating corporate contracts for the past 15 years, Jerome desired a slower paced lifestyle and joined our staff in 2018.

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Fluent in several languages and familiar with style and design from around the globe, Jerome has a special ability to connect with our customers and assist them in finding the perfect piece for their home.

Alan Firlein - Joined our team in 2011 and retired in 2018 only to return in 2020.  Before retirement and coming to work here Alan spent 50 years in the automobile industry. Alan has completed in sports cars club of America sports car racing for 30 years.  He has won multiple championships. Currently competing in power walking events.  Finished 4th in 5000M walk at the 2023 Senior Olympics. 

Carl grew up in Chester County PA and is an engineering graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem PA.  He received a commission in the U.S. Navy and served as a line officer aboard destroyers on active duty and in the reserve as an engineering duty officer where he had command of 3 Naval Reserve units before retiring at the rank of Captain.  As a civilian, he pursued a career in engineering and technical management for industrial instrumentation and controls as well as communications technology firms.  Along the way he achieved a license as a Professional Engineer.

Carl and his wife Linda moved to the Chestertown area in 2000.  They have 3 children and three grandchildren.  He has been with Chestertown Furniture Center since his retirement in 2011.  He has also worked part time with Life Science Products and Rock Hall Marine Consignment. 

Carl Victorius - Joined our team in 2023, Carl comes to us with many years of experience in the governmental and private information technology sectors. He has held positions as IT enterprise operations center manager - US census, IT service desk manager - US Senate, software systems engineer - US Senate. 

Carl brings with him a dynamic balance to our work family. He is exceptionaly detail oriented and helps to balance our office with his even keel personality and organization. 

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We look forward to many years with Carl as he enjoys working several days weekly to keep active in retirement.

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Dane Arnold - Joined our team in 2020 after retiring from the Queen Anne County School System.  During his 30 year tenure as guidance counselor. Currently Dane and his pup love doing Amish pick up and drop off in the Lancaster Pennsylvania region.  

Freight-Train Hadaway - has been around the business for over thirty-five years and thinks nothing of driving hundreds of miles on deliveries. As one of our delivery drivers, most of our customers will quickly recognize Steve as the one who goes the extra mile as he willingly helps move their old furniture and set up the new with a cheerful smile.

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Our avid Railfan, he spends many of his weekends and off-days traveling the area to watch trains. In 2015 alone, Steve logged over 1,700 on his ever-growing list of trains watched from Horseshoe Curve, PA to Gaithersburg, Havre De Grace, & Aberdeen, MD. 

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TRIVIA FACT- Steve legally changed his name to "Freight Train" in 2019.

Joanna spent many hours assisting Dad (John Woodfield) in the online portions of the estate and antiques liquidation business. Although she is no longer part of our on-site team, she still offers a wide selection of jewelry and other decorative items through Chestertown Furniture Center.

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She graduated from Liberty University in summer of 2023 with a degree in music education and performance. An accomplished pianist and concert harpist, Joanna has spent the past several years in-between her studies working as a teacher and performer.

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Currently residing with her husband, Tony in East Tennessee, Joanna is now a full time performer and teacher has been employed by Dollywood Resorts as a harpist and regularly plays for weddings and events in addition to teaching her 30 students. She has also worked as a Victorian era harpist for re-enactment and to-the-period events at the Titanic Musuem in Pigeon Forge, TN. She has also founded Joanna Seiber music, working as an agent for a team of 30 musicians and performers in the Greater Knoxville locale.

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In spring of 2023, Joanna had the amazing opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York with a large orchestra and vocal performing troupe headlined by Christian contemporary artists Selah & Travis Cottrell. She has been invited back for future concerts with artists such as Michael W. Smith and Chris Tomlin. We look forward to watching her future performances and recordings in the future.

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Ralph was with us since he retired from the phone company in 1992. Age has its rewards as he staked out our Pennsylvania delivery run which no matter where the delivery goes, the route always take him past the pretzel factory, hmmmm...

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A local resident of Kent County for many years, Mr. Ralph officially retired from our staff in 2019. He is always welcomed and remembered for his many years of service. He and his wife reside in Chestertown and will still stop in on occasion to reminisce with our staff family.

Mr. Bill is a retired glazier from major construction projects in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas. Looking for a part-time job to keep busy in the midst of his retirement years, he joined our team in Summer 2017. He assists our team with deliveries, stocking, and furniture assembly.

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Bill enjoys spending his weekends at his farm in Chincoteague, VA.

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Mr. Bill officially retired from our staff this year but he is always welcomed and remembered for his many years of service.

By far the most senior staff member. For more years than we can remember, Mr. Ralph has built, fixed and maintained just about everything. Even with all that he does here, he is best known as Ms. Betty's husband. For over twenty-five years Ms. Betty was a much-loved fixture of our store until her passing in 2003.

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Mr. Ralph left our team in 2013 to join Ms. Betty.

He is greatly missed.