Because handmade furniture is so common in North Carolina, few of its citizens realize how much importance the early colonists placed on a piece of furniture. Furniture for the average family in the 1700s did not come from a factory or from overseas; men typically made tables, chairs, beds and cooking utensils for their families. Children played with toys carved by their fathers' hands. Dining and sleeping were not the pleasures they have become today.

Because the log houses of colonial America were small, the family of a tradesperson had to save space. In the dining area, tables had gate legs, or short, narrow pieces of wood attached to the underside of the tabletop that could swing like a gate latch to support drop leaves that were hinged to the tabletop. The leaves allowed the family to adjust the table to be longer or shorter, depending on how many guests they were feeding. Local wood workers made their furniture out of cherry, pine, walnut or mahogany. All except for the mahogany are native to North Carolina. Because of the lack of storage space, women had few cooking utensils and even fewer for eating. Dishes consisted of clay, pewter or wood. Several families shared from a trencher, a deep wooden plate that allowed two people at a time to eat. People used wooden or pewter spoons with which to eat.

Bedroom furniture design also took space saving into account. Most chests of drawers were lowboys, short chests that also served as side tables, or highboys, tall chests made by stacking one chest on top of the other. Most colonists followed English furniture patterns, but several also began personalized styles, some of which have lasted through generations, such as Benjamin Franklin's rocking chair.

Source:

Joan R. Gundersen, "Colonial life in America," Discovery Channel School, original content provided by World Book Online, December 18, 2001.