I had half forgotten that about settle's like that, Ted.. once you mentioned the settle tables, i knew exactly what you were speaking of (and have seen them in restoration villiages) but i most often think of a settle as something by a front door or mud room, or better yet, in an inglenook!
some settles could also be fashioned into beds/cots for an overflow of relatives/guest.
but these are rare- they were popular with the local quakers, and used as hiding places for escaping slaves. most of long island's north shore has traces of the old underground railroad, mostly assocaiated with quaker meeting houses.
during construction of a high rise (10 story) building in the 1930's, an old tunnel was found that connected a meeting house with a home own by a quaker family. the family retained ownership till the late 1950's, and now the house, the original part dating from the 1650's) is a museum. the tunnel was almost a mile long, and still mostly intact!
