Furniture of the Olden Time
INTRODUCTION
THE furniture of the American colonies was at first of English manufacture, but before long cabinet-makers and joiners plied their trade in New England, and much of the furniture now found there was made by the colonists. In New Amsterdam, naturally, a different style prevailed, and the furniture was Dutch. As time went on and the first hardships were surmounted, money became more plentiful, until by the last half of the seventeenth century much fine furniture was imported from England and Holland, and from that time fashions in America were but a few months behind those in England.
In the earliest colonial times the houses were but sparsely furnished, although Dr. Holmes writes of leaving—
“The Dutchman’s shore,
With those that in the Mayflower came, a hundred souls or more,
Along with all the furniture to fill their new abodes,
To judge by what is still on hand, at least a hundred loads.”
If one were to accept as authentic all the legends told of various pieces,—chairs, tables, desks, spinets, and even pianos,—Dr. Holmes’s estimate would be too moderate.