Winter Fair Lecture: Early Furniture from North Carolina’s Piedmont Region: “Some of the nicest furniture . . . ever [you] did see," 

Saturday, December 29, 2018 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM James A. Gray Auditorium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Furniture from North Carolina’s Piedmont Region: “Some of the nicest furniture . . . ever [you] did see,”
June Lucas, Director of Research MESDA/ Old Salem Museums & Gardens

 

Many people associate North Carolina with high quality furniture—but what they have in mind is contemporary pieces produced in factories throughout the state and exhibited at High Point’s twice-yearly Furniture Market. Little do they know that our state has a rich furniture-making history that began to flourish around 1780. Painted chests adorned with colorful tulips and flower-filled vases, walnut high chests decorated with inlaid brimstone initials and stars,  and pitched pediment high chests of every description are just a few of the types of pieces made by our early settlers. Men like Guilford County’s John Adams, Mecklenburg County’s Amos Alexander, Alamance County’s Joseph Wells, and Anson County’s William Little produced some of the “nicest furniture ever you did see,” right in the heart of our state. This lecture will discuss some of these early artisans and the distinctive wares they produced.