SIDEBOARD

This sideboard was made in Augusta, Georgia, for the McGregor house in nearby Warrenton.  Located at the fall line of the Savannah River, and at the southern end of the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia, Augusta was a gateway to trade and commerce in Georgia’s backcountry. 

Augusta’s location made it attractive to merchants in Savannah and Charleston doing business in the backcountry.  In the nineteenth century the Charleston fashion for display furniture like this stage-top sideboard spread inland to places like Augusta.  Unlike Charleston cabinetmakers, Augusta cabinet shops made do with local woods such as birch and walnut as opposed to imported satinwood and mahogany.