What They Brought
As the frontier became more populated and settlers had more money, stores began to offer ready-made goods. Luxury items, like fine china, fashionable clothing, furniture, and even billiard tables could be purchased in Tennessee by the 1820s. Coin silver flatware, made from a 90 percent silver alloy produced from the melting down of silver coins, was purchased by many well-to-do families.
Archaeology digs in the state have un-cover-ed information about what frontier pioneers had. At Bledsoe’s Station, which was built in the early 1780s, digs uncovered imported ceramic teacups, English gunflints, and English-styled clothing pieces. By 1800, Nashville merchants were stocking everything from mahogany framed mirrors, to portable writing desks, and china.
Read about items listed for sale in a store in Rogersville in 1792.
Picture Credits:
- A photograph of reenactors wearing frontier-era styled clothing. Frontiersmen combined both the standard dress commonly worn by all men during the 18th century like knee breeches and overcoats as well as items worn by Indians like leather moccasins as worn by the man on the left. Photograph taken at Mansker's by Robert Neidlinger. Used with his permission
- Conestoga wagons like this one currently on display at the Tennessee State Museum were common in the state from the late 1700s until around 1860. They were used to carry settlers' goods. This wagon bed dates to the early 1800s and is from East Tennessee. Tennessee State Museum Collection, 78.19.253.A
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Drawing entitled, “Settler walking beside an ox team pulling a covered wagon through the Cumberland Gap.” This drawing was created by Harry Fenn and originally included in the 1872 work Picturesque America by William Cullen Bryant. Tennessee State Museum Collection
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Drawing of frontier settlers. This drawing is entitled, “Border settlers in Ohio.” This drawing was made by Felix Darley in 1876 and published in Pioneers in the settlement of America. It shows a group of people in the 1790s performing various chores in a small clearing in the woods. A man is shown chopping wood, while a woman cooks on an open fire while a dog lies nearby. A child can be seen carrying firewood while other men are shown helping build a cabin and tending horses. New York Public Library
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Drawing entitled, “The Road.” This drawing was made by George Dalziel and published in 1853 in the book, The Land We Live In. It shows a group of settlers traveling with their cargo and livestock along a narrow mountain road. New York Public Library
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