Influences from the Coastal South
In addition to their ties to Pennsylvania, backcountry residents maintained considerable connections to the coastal South. The region's growing importance as a grain producer strengthened those connections in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The establishment of new western towns led to trade relationships that provided backcountry artisans with access to the latest design trends from the southern coast. After the Revolution, the dispersion of coastal furniture styles was further facilitated by the westward migration of eastern cabinetmakers who sought to profit from reduced competition in smaller towns inland.