diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/FieldMarshaller.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/FieldMarshaller.java
index 9b0a73af..bc4a799f 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/FieldMarshaller.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/FieldMarshaller.java
@@ -178,11 +178,13 @@ public abstract class FieldMarshaller
         int length = 255;
         boolean nullable = false;
         boolean unique = false;
+        String defval = "";
         Column column = _field.getAnnotation(Column.class);
         if (column != null) {
             nullable = column.nullable();
             unique = column.unique();
             length = column.length();
+            defval = column.defaultValue();
             if (!StringUtil.isBlank(column.name())) {
                 _columnName = column.name();
             }
@@ -219,6 +221,11 @@ public abstract class FieldMarshaller
             if (unique) {
                 builder.append(" UNIQUE");
             }
+
+            // append the default value if one was specified
+            if (defval.length() > 0) {
+                builder.append(" DEFAULT ").append(defval);
+            }
         }
 
         // handle primary keyness
diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/annotation/Column.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/annotation/Column.java
index b33ba72c..bc3998dd 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/annotation/Column.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/annotation/Column.java
@@ -62,4 +62,11 @@ public @interface Column
      * The column length. (Applies to String and byte[] columns.)
      */
     int length () default 255;
+
+    /**
+     * The SQL literal value to be used when defining this column's default value. The value must
+     * be quoted and escaped if it is not a SQL primitive datatype. For example:
+     * <code>'2006-01-01'</code> or <code>25</code> or <code>NULL</code>.
+     */
+    String defaultValue () default "";
 }