Little documentation exists of the trade occurring in the central North Carolina Piedmont during the 18th and 19th century at wealthy farmstead sites or at surrounding sites of lower economic status. The intent of my research is to gain a greater understanding into socio-economic patterns of early settlers in the rural Piedmont at three historic farmstead sites: Holly Bend, Rural Hill, and Hoyle house. Accessing ceramics recovered at all three sites during field excavations I used portable Xray fluorescence spectrometry to acquire data on the elemental composition of lead glazed coarse earthenware sherds, a common utilitarian ware utilized by settlers in mid-18th century and continued into the 19th century. I compared my data to pXRF results of ceramic sherds from local historic kiln sites in the North Carolina Piedmont. Non-local wares for comparison were chosen based on documented trading sites during the 18th and 19th centuries, including Britain, Philadelphia, the Chesapeake, and the northern Virginia Piedmont. The results of my data analysis confirm that concentrations of certain elements in samples allows the distinction of different production sources, which have some temporal distinctions. Rubidium and Niobium provided the most distinct clusters showing clear separation between production zones. Combining these results with pXRF results from ceramic samples from farmsteads I conclude that ceramic production and trade was occurring throughout the Piedmont as early as mid-18th century demonstrating not only the consumer demand for these vessels but also the local network of trade relationships being established early on despite Britain’s attempts at controlling and taxing local goods for profit.