American Furniture—Humble Beginnings
The first American settlers sailed to the New World with lofty dreams and hope of a better life only to find themselves in wild, unclaimed country where they would build their homes. Few brought furniture or possessions, and settlers built rough hewn, simple cabins that included a few benches, trestle tables, and mattresses on the floor. Over time, homes became more comfortable and the tradition of early American furniture was born. The New World boasted vast, untouched forests of maple, oak, cherry, and other native trees, and pioneers began hand-crafting their own furnishings out of sheer necessity. Cabinet makers also found their way to America, building solid, heavy furniture that copied the Jacobean and Carolean styles in England with straight, simple lines.
The most commonly used woods were maple, cherry, walnut and oak. Maple being strong and durable, it could also be brought to a highly-polished finish. The more fine-grained and smooth-textured cherry is a medium-density wood and was easy to work with. Oak, like maple, is a heavy and durable wood and early American settlers used both white and red oak. Walnut—a darker, medium density wood that was easily worked with hand tools—could be polished to a rich patina.
Genuine early American antique furniture is expensive and often hard to find. The quality of the wood and the craftsmanship makes it in many ways superior to European antiques of the same era. Reproduction furniture is made, often by hand, in the same style and uses the same woods as the genuine antiques. These “replicas” blend well with older pieces, achieving the desired decor effect where history and comfort meet.
Early inventories reveal more detailed descriptions of farming equipment than household goods. Furniture took on more decorative and artistic qualities as other specialized forms were being produced to provide for the social customs of the day. Special tables, cabinets, and cupboards, for the display and serving of tea wares, along with silver flatware and imported china, were found in the homes of the upper and middle classes.
Popular design styles for furnishings included late Empire, American Restoration, Rococo Revival, Elizabethan Revival or Cottage Style, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Eastlake, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, and Colonial Revival. Economic class and geography determined the amount and quality of furniture available.
Early pioneers in eastern American settlements received much of their furniture through the coastal trade from New England, the British Isles, and Europe. Artisans were attracted to a colony as the population increased and could support their work. Most of these cabinetmakers, painters, potters, silversmiths, weavers, and such were of English ancestry, often immigrating from neighboring colonies. They brought with them knowledge of their respective crafts based on English design. Pioneers settled in the coastal regions, the backcountry, and the mountains, along side other European and African immigrants. Each ethnic group made unique contributions to the development of early American furniture design styles.
Adapted from 3 sites:
www.furniturestyles.net
http://scican3.scican.net/designing_place/old_hickory.htm
http://uncpress.unc.edu/nc_encyclopedia/furniture.html
