Unusual center table/dining table

I am new to this board and greetings!  

I recently acquired this unusual rosewood center table.  Top dimensions are a typical 42"w x 33"d.  The top unlatches with hook-and-eyes to pull out to 10'7" on chestnut runners.  In my 43 years collecting, I have never encountered another table like this.  Can anyone help me to learn more about this table beyond the obvious?  Has anyone ever seen this form before -- a center table that becomes a dining table?  Please pardon the horrific background -- I took the photos before I got it home!  Thanks kindly, John

Well, I have been conducting more research on this table.  I had hoped to receive some replies from this forum, but oh well.  I spoke with a prominent dealer in Ocean Springs, Mississippi who opined that this is a uniquely southern regional table style that was used in the better homes of the period when large relatively informal gatherings took place such as weddings or funerals.  These tables would be drawn out in the entry foyer to serve as a buffet table.  They were not intended as dining tables because the were too delicate to have twenty guests with elbows resting on the top; additionally, the formal dining room would already have a proper dining table so a center table/dining table would not be needed or appropriate.  He emphatically stated that these were southern tables.

The next day, we visited 'Beauvoir', the last home of CSA President Jefferson Davis in Biloxi.  In one of the outbuildings, we spied through the window another center table/dining table combination in late Empire style.  The small-diameter center leg was missing, and a cloth was over the top, but we could clearly see the split in the multi-sided stretcher and the center hole for the leg.  It had a certain crudeness of construction to it.  We met briefly with the director of Beauvoir who confirmed it was a pull-out table.  He also stated that it was a donated item, not a Davis family item, and that they had never pulled it out to see how big it becomes, or paid it much other mind.  He seemed to have trouble grasping the concept of the difference between a pull-out dining table, and a pull-out center table.  Please see attached photos:

Seen through the window:


Close up showing split in stretcher and leg hole:


Next we spoke with two prominent Alabama dealers who confirmed a southern provenance and told us of two similar tables -- one sold at auction (she thought at Neal's) within the past couple of years, and another sold at a local auction about 15 or 20 years ago to the Selma Historical Society.

I am currently in communication with the Selma Historical Society regarding that table.

If anyone can opine on whether these tables are uniquely southern, and any other comments on their origins or traditions, I would be most appreciative. Thanks again!

Here is a photo of our table extended to its full 10'7" from 33" closed:


The runners cut to the contour of the skirt, table closed: