With the surround and hearth restored to the fireplace, the final piece of the puzzle was the chimneypiece's missing wooden chimney cap that sat on top of the stone surround.  To recover the design of the cap, the Restoration Team investigated the plaster above the stone surround.  Fortunately, much of the ca. 1812 plaster survived and a ghost of the chimney cap’s profile was found embedded in a layer of post-Madison layer finish coat plaster.  So even though the original cap had been lost, its shape, size, and a rough profile survived.