Pegs and tops

During a salvage run last Wednesday, I found an old farm table that could easily be about 150 years old.




It is made of first-growth, old heart pine, which can be seen on the unfinished underside of the top. The hand plane ridges can be felt and and the legs were worked with a drawknife.
The legs are joined to the apron using mortise and tenon joinery, which is expected. The surprise for me was to find that the top was fastened to the base using pegs from the top.
I almost missed it sitting in a pile of rubble and covered by a plastic sheet mailed on in the 70s. It weighs much more than it looks like it should, confirming the tightness of the grain.
Only downside, my wife doesn't like it. It may have to live in the workshop, but I'm hoping to fix it up enough to have it stay in the house. The challenge will be to fix it without hurting the original material.