In the Good Old Colony Days: What Life Was Like in America for the Common Folk in the Period That Produced the Declaration of Independence

~Updated in June 2017~

In the good old colony days

When we lived under the king
Lived a miller and a weaver and a little tailor
Three jolly rogues of Lynne...

Back in time we go...to the 1700's...

I'm in a colonial mood.

In fact, I've been in a colonial mood quite often of late. 

By colonial, I don't necessarily mean the earliest years of our country's founding,  such as that period of the pilgrims from the 17th century, but, rather, I hanker more for the time from around the first stirrings of the American Revolution (early 1760s) through roughly the end of the century, to about 1800. 

When I was a young lad in my teen years, the Bicentennial celebrations celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence were in full swing; it seemed from the early 1970s through the end of 1976, wherever you turned there was something being written about our colonial roots and the Revolutionary War, with the concentration being on the year 1776, especially in the newspapers. And the TV had bicentennial programming here and there as well - does anyone else remember "Bicentennial Minute"? But, with me "coming out of the womb into history" (my mother's own words - not mine) I also loved to read books that were about the 18th century. A particular favorite was  The Cabin Faced West   by Jean Fritz, which gave a pretty accurate account of everyday life in the wilderness that eventually became western Pennsylvania ca 1780's. I remember being a kid and pretending that I was living with the Hamilton family: our dank and dark basement 'became' the cabin (and it had a real fireplace to boot, which made it all the more "real" in my mind), and the over-grown brush behind our garage was the frontier.

I had a great time!

Did I make it?
Am I really in the 1770s?

Until fairly recently, this colonial infatuation that I've had at the forefront of my historical thoughts of late seemed to lay dormant for quite a while - since the 1990s. My interests at that time moved to the 1860s and, finding there were plenty more opportunities to study and reenact the Civil War, I spent many years entrenched in that period. But there was a blog I used to follow (which has since been taken down), that was mostly about 17th and 18th century life - author Mary and her husband Adam truly seem to live history, and she had posted literally hundreds of photos of their excursions to the past (they can still be found HERE at their antique store). 

Then there is that wonderful HBO mini-series about our 2nd President and his wife...you know...the one about John Adams.

I believe both the website and the John Adams mini-series are a part of the catalyst for the resurgence of my more recent colonial passions.

And that catalyst propelled me from Civil War reenacting right into Revolutionary War reenacting. Yes, I now time-travel to both eras on weekends, experiencing, to an extent, life as it was so long ago. Almost in the way I did while I pretended to live with the Hamiltons - isn't adulthood wonderful?
You see, as passionate as I am about the mid-19th century, I am every bit as passionate about our colonial heritage as well - more so, in fact - and feel that too much from this period in time is no longer being taught to our school children as strongly as it should be. 

There is so much to learn, however...and I would like to think of this posting as a start on that journey to the past, to bring back a time that too many in our modern society have forgotten about.

There are many many photos, and even a few video clips, that go with the words herein to help get into the colonial mood.
Won't you come along with me for the ride?

Here's something for starters - click the arrow on the following two video clips I took that tells a bit about life in an 18th century New England saltbox-style home to begin your journey:

Part one 

Part two

 
And for reference purposes, let's begin our tour with a few photos of the homes we will visit on our journey into this exciting time of our Nation's history. As you scroll through this post, we will be bopping back and forth throughout the houses pictured here:

A colonial scene at Greenfield Village: 1750 Daggett farmhouse on the left-center, Farris Windmill from the mid-1600s, and the early 1700s Plympton House on the right

The Plympton House: An early Massachusetts home from the early 1700s.

Plympton House

The Plympton Home: Four walls and a loft...

Plympton House from a third angle

The Daggett Farmouse: A typical Connecticut Salt Box house built about 1750.

Daggett House - Great Hall

The Giddings House: A city home from New Hampshire built around the same year as the Daggett Home - 1750. As you can see, Giddings is a bit more upscale than the others.

The formal parlor of Giddings House

The McGuffey Birthplace: A typical log cabin of western Pennsylvania built around 1780 - the same time and place as the Hamilton's from the book mentioned earlier. I imagine this is what their cabin may have looked like.

The interior of the McGuffey Cabin.

All the comforts of home await inside the one-room McGuffey cabin

Since the bicentennial celebrations began to die down in the late 1970s and early '80s, this southern part of Michigan in which I live slowly began to forget its colonial past (click Detroit - A True Colonial City for a little diatribe on this subject) and even almost skipped over the 19th century (thank God for Civil War reenacting to keep it alive!) and began to, instead, concentrate on the early part of the 20th century. The two historical open-air museums of Greenfield Village and Crossroad Village used to have Colonial Weekends, but both events have fallen by the wayside. Fortunately there are still a few Revolutionary War reenactments here in Michigan, including Feast of the St. Claire, Mackinac Island, Kensington State Park, Historic Fort Wayne, and a few others.

I have found it to be a great experience to reenact in the colonial era. And to have my wife join me adds to it enormously.

Plus, my kids like it, too! 

Needlepoint at Giddings House

Another plus for colonial era 'buffs' and historians is knowing that Greenfield Village has those few 18th century structures (pictured throughout this post) transplanted on its grounds from other parts of the country, and they are all grouped together in one area, which is nice because it gives visitors that overall colonial feel. Though all of these buildings are almost always open to the public, only one in this particular collection, the Daggett Saltbox-style Farmhouse, is usually "alive" with period-dressed presenters for most of the year. The Giddings House 'comes alive' during the fall harvest weekend and at Christmas time, as does the McGuffey House (the Plympton House has a recording to listen to upon entering).
Needless to say I spend much of my Village-visiting time inside all of the colonial buildings there, just taking it all in, especially when I am in the clothing of the period, which gives me a more personal experience.
They also show the traditional craft and chores of candle dipping, hearth cooking, dyeing of spun wool by way of bark, berries, and flower pedals, learning of the 18th century herbal garden, and winter preparations...being in that setting...wow---just the whole wooden-ness of it all, you know? 

Drying plants at Daggett House

Much of what was done in the colonial times, including spinning and dyeing, food preservation, mode of travel, and even dipping and burning candles (as mentioned above), was still practiced throughout most of the 19th century, especially in the more rural areas.
And we shall speak of these things momentarily. First I would like to give you a broader picture of the look of the time. 
You just saw a few photos of colonial houses, but what about the people that lived in them? More specifically, what they wore:

Even the well-to-do lady-of-the-house, such as Mehetable Giddings, would keep herself occupied when not entertaining guests

The clothing that people wore in the past has the ability to fascinate and involve us as few objects of their material culture do. For some, it is a wish to experience the beautiful fabrics, elaborate decoration, and tactile qualities; experiences no longer found in most of our own clothing. For others, it is a desire to understand people from the past a little better; if we know such details as how they dressed themselves in the morning, what it was like to wear coarse linen and woolen while working in a Virginia tobacco field, or what it felt like to be laced into stays, we might better understand the routine, human aspects of their daily lives, which are so seldom revealed in the written records they left.

Yep - I did it! I finally found a way to travel through time to the 1770s! Here I am in my colonial clothing being greeted by Deborah and Dorothy Giddings! Such fine young ladies they are.

They pointed me toward the Daggett House...

...where I was warmly received by Samuel Daggett himself!

Inside the Daggett buttery: Pouring water into a leather bag to take with me out into the field.

Which is why many of us practice living history - so we can make an attempt to, in a small way, experience what our ancestors did so long ago.

The clothing you see in this posting are, of course, replicas of the kind worn by those who lived in the eighteenth century and, believe it or not, had much in common with us. Not only did people back then respond to fashion, they also varied their garments based on the activity and the formality of the occasion. The eighteenth-century words "dress" and "undress" had meanings quite different from the way we use the words today, though the basic concepts are still viable. "Dress" clothing meant formal clothing with a different set of conventions and accessories from "undress" or informal clothing. In 1775, for example, a woman could still don a pair of exaggerated side hoops, or "panniers," to support her wide skirt for a dress occasion, while her undress clothing, although it would appear quite formal to our eyes, had a more modest skirt size that may not have needed hoops at all. 

Giddings House: check out panniers that Heidi (or is it Mary Giddings?) is wearing!

Similarly, the clothes in which a wealthy planter conducted his daily business differed significantly from what he wore to a ball at the Governor's Palace. The garments worn by a blacksmith, for instance, or even a female dairymaid for their daily work were different from their best outfits, reserved for Sundays at church and infrequent special occasions. Working class and yeomen (farmers) dressed in ordinary work clothes: they were clean-shaven with long hair worn straight or pulled back in a queue (ponytail tied with a ribbon - a style for middling class men as well) beneath one of a variety of hats, including soft caps, felt hats with cut-down floppy brims, and the popular cocked hat (better known in modern times as a tricorn hat), while the younger men wore their hair with a lock in front of each ear, known as earlocks, fastened with elegant pins. They wore baggy linen or cotton shirts & waistcoats, and their breeches came down and fastened below the knee, with long stockings and cowhide shoes ornamented by large buckles. 
The infamous cocked hat became popular throughout the last half of the eighteenth century.
Since I am portraying a middle class (or "middling") man, it is this this style that I choose to wear.

 Springtime plowing is at hand...

The concepts of comfort and modesty have always been relative and subject to the influence of fashion and the needs of the occasion. Like us here in the 21st century, eighteenth-century people needed clothing for warmth and comfort, but they quickly abandoned those needs if fashion or the occasion dictated.

Time for milking...

During much of the eighteenth century, women's skirts were long and the sleeves covered the elbows; yet a woman would readily push up her sleeves and hike up her petticoats while doing laundry or working in the dairy, and, when fashion dictated it, women would shorten their skirts to the ankles, as many did in the 1780s.
Someone who had worn stays (the 18^th century version of a corset) from girlhood might scarcely have questioned their comfort or lack of it. 
(And who is to say that stays were any more uncomfortable than pointed-toe, high-heeled twentieth-century shoes?)

Speaking of shoes...

Shoes were essential to people who walked as much as the colonials did. 

1758 fashion shoes for men replicated directly 
from originals found after being sealed in 
mud for over 200 years.
Yes, they are straight-lasted. 

Most shoes were straight-lasted - made to fit either foot (no right or left shoe) - and actually matched the bone structure of the foot  better than shoes made to be right or left. They were generally made of leather with a thick, heavy sole, which provided good upper-foot support. It wasn't until around the turn of the 18th century that the use of buckles began. Buckles, which did cost a bit of money, were small at first then grew in size and generally fluctuated in size throughout the hundred years or so of popularity (some of the more common folk tended to wear laced shoes, though they may have buckles for their dress shoes). 
Mules were also popular during this time; mules were the equivalent of today's slippers.

Since slavery is a subject that is covered extensively throughout thousands of books and even more web sites, I would like to speak here, instead, more about the "hired" help. In the 18th century, formal indentured servants and apprenticeships were quite common, and the responsibility of the employers was to not only to provide adequate food and clothing, but the education for the worker as well.
But among more prosperous families, girls from less fortunate families were hired to assist with certain aspects of the household duties. They came with the expectation that in addition to their room and board they would receive modest cash wages or store credits as well as a thorough instruction in reading and housekeeping. 
Hired girls usually dressed in simple, practical work clothes during the day. "The dress of those girls consisted of a gown of stuff or calico, with a high-necked and long-sleeved tire which completed the costume. Their hair was cut short or parted neatly and out behind their ears. Bangs and fringes were unknown in those days and would not have been tolerated for a minute."

At the more upscale Giddings home, the servant girl prepares her mistress's tea.

It was custom for young girls to enter families to be initiated into the work of a house, and it was not uncommon for them to remain until they were married, and sometimes for their whole lives. And the hired girls usually built a strong bonding relationship with her mistress, garnering mutual respect and affection. The hired girl would often be considered a part of the family.
But this wasn't always the case, for Sarah Anne Emery recalled seeing girls "going to the pump in mid-winter, clad only in a homespun short gown and petticoat, with slipshod shoes, disclosing huge holes in the heels of their stockings, and an old hood tied over their tangled hair."

A great primary source for servant and even everyday wear clothing for women (and a few men) is the book "Wenches, Wives, and Servant Girls: A Selection of Advertisements for Female Runaways in American Newspapers, 1770-1783" by Don N. Hagist. The newspapers of the day provided detailed descriptions of women and men who, for whatever reason, left or escaped their husbands, masters/mistresses, or place of employment (indentured servitude) without anyone's knowledge. And these husbands, masters, and/or employers wanted their "property" back:

Possibly a found

runaway servant

girl.

October 1776
Ran away on Saturday the 12th instant, from the subscriber, an Irish girl named Judith Kennedy, about five feet three inches high, near twenty-seven years of age, is tolerable genteel, pock marked, black hair, and has something of the brogue. She had on, when she went away, a red and white calico short gown, a green shirt, brown cloak, black spotted silk bonnet lined with white, and an old pair of black satin shoes. She also took with her a changeable mantua gown, white dimity petticoat, a fine flowered apron, one check ditto, and two shifts.

And another from October 1773:
Run away the 24th of October, from the subscribers in Philadelphia, two Dutch bound servants, a man and a woman; the man's name is Justus Hornschier, a shoemaker by trade, about 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, pock marked, has got but one eye; had on when he went away, a blue coat and jacket, and buckskin breeches. The woman's name is Catherine Mum, but it is likely she may alter it to that of the man's, and that they will pass for man and wife; she is about 5 feet high, slender bodied, talks or knows very little English; had on and took with her when she went away, a calico short gown, a green camblet gown, two striped camblets petticoats, a Dutch chintz jacket, one white and some ozenbrig aprons, a black bonnet, a white cloth short cloak with a hood to it. Whoever takes up the said servants, and confines them in any gaol, so that their masters may have them again, shall have Three Pounds reward for both, or for the maid alone Forty-five shillings, and all reasonable charges paid...

Tea time at the Giddings House.

Let's hear more about the tea by clicking below:

 
Climate also had a significant effect on clothing. In the sultry climate of Virginia many, even the upper classes, chose washable linen or cotton clothing for informal wear. A traveler in the early 1730s described the summer clothing of Virginians: "In Summertime even the gentry goe Many in White Holland [linen] Wast Coat and drawers and a thin Cap on their heads and Thread stockings [knitted linen]. The Ladyes Strait laced in thin Silk or Linnen. In Winter [they dress] mostly as in England and affect London Dress and wayes."
During the hot summer months, men often wore unlined coats and thin waistcoats of cotton or linen fabrics. Advising his brother about what to wear when he attended the College of William and Mary, Stephen Hawtrey wrote, "Your Cloathing in summer must be as thin and light as possible for the heat is beyond your conception . . .your Cloth suit unlined may do for the Month of May, but after that time you must wear the thinnest Stuffs that can be made without lining. some people . . . wear brown holland [linen] Coats with lining –some Crape –You must carry with you a Stock of Linnen Waistcoats made very large and loose, that they may'nt stick to your hide when you perspire."

Back at the Daggett home, there is little time for 
clothing concern. 
No idle hands here!

Doctoring - caring for ill family members - usually fell on the wife/mother. She may have learned her skills from her own mother, or she might have had the pamphlet "Every Man His Own Physician" from 1764 or something along those lines. In this little booklet, any cure for what ails you could be found, and most remedies/medicine were grown in the back garden. For instance, if one had “a violent head-ache, a weariness of the limbs, a pain in the loins, a coldness of the external parts, a shivering and shaking, sometimes so much as to make the very bed shake under them,” there is a good chance they may have the fever (or Ague).

According to this pamphlet, the “Method of Curing” would be “First vomit the sick person, by giving half a drachm of the powder of Ipecacoanha, and work it off with Chamomile tea; then let the sick person take the following powder:

Of the best Peruvian bark powder’d, one ounce, of Virginia Snake root, and salt of wormwood, each one drachm; mix these well together, and divide them into eight doses, one paper to be taken every two hours in a glass of red wine or any other liquid. This is a certain and infallible cure; but care must be taken to administer it only in the intervals of the fits…”

From the excellent docu-drama about 
Martha Ballard called "A Midwife's Tale"

One woman in particular from the colonial period kept a journal of her daily activities, which included doctoring. She was a local mid-wife in a small village in main in the late 18^th century, and being as such was also the local practitioner. Her diary has been published and even made into a docu-drama by PBS. Her name? Martha Ballard. She wrote in her diary nearly every day from January 1, 1785 to May 12, 1812 (27 years) for a total of almost 10,000 entries. Her diary is an unparalleled document in early American history.

Here is a minute example of some of her notations:

August 10, 1787 – At Mrs. Howards. Her son very sick. Capt Sewall & Lady sett up till half after 4. Then I rose. The child seems revived.

August 12, 1787 – At Mrs. McMasters. Their son very sick. I set up all night. Mrs. Patin with me. The Child very ill indeed.

August 13, 1787 – William McMaster Expired at 3 O’Clock this morn. Mrs. Patin and I laid out the Child. Poor mother, how Distressing her Case, near the hour of Labour and three Children more very sick. I sett out for home.

November 1, 1792 – I was Calld to see Mrs. Hodges at 4 h pm. Shee was safe delivered at 11 h Evening off a very fine son her sixth child.

Another thing I noticed when reading the hundreds of runaway 'advertisements' is something we rarely hear of or see at reenactments (for realism, I suppose) is how many folks were smitten with "the Pox." Numerous descriptions of runaways note pox marks upon the faces of those missing.

One of the things I hope to accomplish in colonial reenacting is to surround myself with those who take it as serious as I do by not only dressing and acting as authentic as possible and utilizing our knowledge of the period, but by way of language usage as well. I mean, the 1860's verbiage is challenging enough at Civil War reenactments, so I can just imagine making the attempt to speak as they did 250 years ago. I have heard, for instance, that they used to pronounce the "K" in words such as know (as "k-no") and knife (as "k-nife"), but I don't know for sure...maybe some of you etymologists can help me on this. However, there is a wonderful book available - Eighteenth Century English as a Second Language - that the presenters in Colonial Williamsburg use as a guide, and I plan to use it as well. It doesn't answer all of my questions, but it is a period language bible in my mind.
The docu-drama, A Midwife's Tale, does a remarkable job in presenting the later 1700s verbiage, as does the John Adams HBO series which includes a bit of a British accent in their words.

The way our forefathers and foremothers wrote in letters, diaries, and broadsides is the key. 

Speaking of writing, American colonial handwriting and printing looks strange to us. Why did they use all those f's instead of s's?

Hey! Dad thinkS he

KnowS about the 'long s. '

Heh heh…

Oh wait – he doeS!

If you want to imitate colonial handwriting from the 18th century, or make a colonial handbill or sign, then using those funny f's correctly is the most obvious thing that will make your handwriting or printing look like it's from the 18th Century.

The letter that looks like an "f" actually is called a "long s." In colonial printing fonts, you can tell it from a printed "f" because the little cross-bar is only on the left-hand side, or isn't there at all. In colonial handwriting, the "long s" is written like an "f," except the bottom loop is written clockwise instead of counter-clockwise.

The "long s" wasn't used randomly. Here are the rules for when to use it, so your handwriting or printing will look like authentic colonial handwriting.

Use the "long s" at the beginning and middle of words, but use the regular "s" for the last letter of a word.

If there are two s's together, use the "long s" for the first one and the regular "s" for the second one. Use the regular "s" before and after the letter "f" (the real letter "f"!) Use the regular "S" whenever the "S" is uppercase.

Not only is this an original example of the colonial style of writing (including the "long s"), but it also gives another wonderful description of clothing (from the excellent book "Wenches, Wives, and Servant Girls" by Don N. Hagist).

It seems through all of my research on any historical era, one thing that has not changed over these past few hundred years is that life then, as now, tended to center around the kitchen. But, oh! how life in the kitchen has changed!
Whereas so many in our modern day eat frozen dinners or will go out to a local fast food joint, the kitchen during colonial times was the heart of the home. When Betsy Phelps, who was visiting friends in Boston, wrote to her mother in Hadley in August 1797, she spoke fondly of the family meal: "Now I fancy you are eating dinner assembled round that jovial table - partaking of a wholesome repast - it makes my mouth water - as the saying is, to think of it - good fatt meat - with green sauce is too delicious."
"The kitchen in all the farmhouses of all the colonies was the most cheerful, homelike, and picturesque room in the house; indeed, it was in town houses as well. "

Giddings kitchen

"Preparing colonial food was not simply a matter of making ingredients palatable," Ann Chandonnet writes in her book, Colonial Food, "it also required a staggering range of skills: chopping kindling, keeping a fire burning indefinitely, plucking feathers from fowl, butchering animals large and small, cosseting (caring for) bread yeast, brewing beer, making cheese, adjusting 'burners' of coals on a hearth and gauging the temperature of a bake oven. There were related skills, too, such as milking, grinding corn, fermenting vinegar, pulverizing sugar, drying damp flour, and recycling stale bread."

Giddings kitchen

Chandonnet continues, "The housewife's universe spiraled out from hearth and barnyard to tending a kitchen garden and perhaps a large vegetable garden, as well as assisting with the grain harvest.
Preserving methods were limited to drying, smoking, pickling, and salting, so the cold months of the year saw a more limited diet than warm months."
What people chose to eat and how they cooked their meals was what they considered to be edible and familiar. Colonists cooked many dishes from memory and experience, eventually acquiring an 'American' character, and they certainly encountered new foods which, in some cases, came from the local Indians."

Working in the Daggett garden

Let's visit the Daggett kitchen and see what's cooking:

Though cookbooks did exist, most colonial women cooked many dishes without the use of one; they learned from their mothers how to make the everyday foods that the majority of people in their area ate, therefore, unless the dish to be served was for a special occasion or an important guest, it was done by memory as she was taught.
In a colonial homestead, a circuit-riding preacher might be served a chicken pie, a mess of greens, and sweet apple dumplings. Of course, to prepare such a meal the housewife would have to first "pick and clean six chickens, (without scalding), take out their inwards and wash the birds while whole, then joint the birds, salt and pepper the pieces and inwards..." (from The First American Cookbook, originally printed in 1796 as AMERICAN COOKERY, or The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables by Amelia Simmons.

Daggett House kitchen

Colonial cooking was dominated by fireplace technology; in the kitchen it was the massive fireplace that was the center of it all. And, of course, all of the necessary cooking tools to go with it: "A nest of iron pots of different sizes, a long iron fork to take out articles from boiling water, an iron hook with a handle to lift pots from the crane, a large and small gridiron with grooved bars and a trench to catch the grease, a dutch oven (or bake pan), two skillets of different sizes, a skimmer, skewers, a toasting iron, two tea kettles - one small and one large, a spider (or flat skillet) for frying, a griddle, a waffle iron, tin and iron bake and bread pans, two ladles of different sizes, two brass kettles of different sizes for soap boiling, &c." (From Miss Catherine Beecher).

Daggett House - cooking on the hearth

Most cooking fireplaces were equipped with a suspension system for the large pots and kettles. An iron crane that could be swung out toward the room to check on the contents of the pots and kettles was also mounted inside of the chimney. By raising or lowering the pots to adjust the distance between them and the fire, or by moving the crane forward into the room, cooking temperatures could be adjusted.

Daggett House kitchen

One must remember, however, that most young folks did not go into 'housekeeping' with all of this iron cookware. Many would have only the basics - a small kettle, a spider, and a ladle - to begin with, and would accumulate the rest over time.
By the way, what we call pot holders here in the 21st century were originally called  kettle-holders. Pot holders then were the metal stand suspension equipment designed to hold pots off of the ground mentioned above. (Thanks to Stephanie Ann at World Turned Upside Down for this pot/kettle holder information).

Giddings kitchen and servant girl

Now would be a good time to hear from the Giddings hired servant girl and listen as she tells about her life in the home:

The importance of not allowing the fire to go out cannot be overstated. It was quite a chore to get another going; since there were no matches in colonial times it was very difficult to get a fire started from scratch. To do so required striking flint rock against steel to create sparks into tinder. Tinder was anything that would ignite easily - usually strips of linen or paper thin strips of wood. These items would have been kept inside a tin or metal tinderbox. In the previously mentioned book The Cabin Faced West the fire did go out and young Anne Hamilton was at a loss of what to do:
'As soon as she stepped inside, she had a sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She had forgotten about the fire. Quickly she ran over to the hearth and sank down on her knees before a pile of black ashes and a half-burned log. In desperation she blew into the fireplace, hoping to revive a hidden spark. Ashes flew out into the room and up in her face, but there wasn't a tiny glow of red anywhere. She looked at the tinderbox beside the fireplace with its piece of steel and flint. She had never made a fire from the beginning. She walked back and forth in the cabin, holding the baby while she talked to herself. "Maybe I could borrow some. But if I went down the hill to Uncle John's, I'd have to take the baby. It wouldn't be so bad going, but coming back, carrying the baby and a pot of fire - I don't know if I could manage." '
Just for a fire...imagine...(by the way, young Miss Hamilton did eventually head down to her uncle's place to 'borrow' fire. But something very interesting happened on the way...
The Cabin Faced West is really a fine book on colonial life - you should get it, even if it is for young kids).

Daggett House

Needless to say, between breakfast, dinner, and the evening supper meal, it was in the colonial kitchen that most of the activity of all types took place, besides the cooking. In the wintertime, it was also the warmest room in the home. But even with the fire going all day, on extremely cold winter days the kitchen fire might not be able to warm the adjacent rooms, and more than one family found themselves literally living in that one room for weeks on end, including sleeping.

Plympton House

And this would make a fine time to segue into a mythbuster: let's dispel the myth that "people were shorter back then."
No they weren't.
Well, maybe slightly...like about an inch or so. But the myth that the average height of a colonist was 5'4" or whatever is just that - a myth. Just like today, people came in all shapes and sizes.
"But the ceilings were so low and the beds were so small!"
The ceilings (and doorways) were lower to retain the heat from fireplaces in the cold months - this is a proven fact. I needn't go further on this.

So, you think the doorways were shorter in 1760 because the people were smaller? Think again!

As for the beds being smaller, I finally found a very sound answer in an article by Tess Rosch in the June 2013 issue of Early American Life magazine. In fact, it's a photo I took while at Greenfield Village that is featured in the article!
"According to measurements taken of Revolutionary War soldiers compared with recruits from the 1950's, the modern soldier is actually only about 2/3 of an inch taller. Our current soldiers could blend in quite easily with George Washington's recruits."
Rosch also pointed out research done on antique bedding owned by Colonial Williamsburg:
"Since there were no standardized beds until the Industrial Revolution, that should prove revealing. No bed was shorter than 6'3" and many were 6'8" long, the same length as today's 'king'!"
But why do the beds look so short?
"Optical illusion!" writes Rosch.
With all of the posts, testers, drapery, canopies, etc., that surrounded the bed vertically, it made them look smaller horizontally.

Giddings House bed chamber

Here's the article as was written in Early American Life. Yes, they used MY picture!

This was a photo that I took of Larissa and Russ from the 1750's Daggett Farm. I asked her to portray a nagging wife while I took the picture. It goes with the picture above. If you look closely to the right you can read my name as credit.

This research also refutes the myth that colonials had a tendency to sleep sitting up:
taking all of this into account, and considering the other myths that have been dispelled, I have to agree with the proof that our colonial ancestors slept in the same horizontal position that we do today.
I think what I enjoy most in having Early American Life magazine use my photo is being associated with Greenfield Village - and with American history in general - which is something I take great pride in. And now with this issue of Early American Life I accomplished both; Tess Rosch needed a photograph to accent her story, so while reading one of my blog postings she came across a picture she thought would work well.

So there you go - my passion for history, Greenfield Village, and even my love of photography all rolled into one!

I'm pretty proud!

Daggett House parlor and bed chamber

The Daggett formal parlor from the opposite angle.

Daggett House parlor peaking in from a window.

Here's a clip explaining the formal parlor at the Daggett farm:

Mrs. Daggett looks for her husband to return.

~~~

Upon my own visitation to the Daggett farm I have also witnessed the carding, spinning, and dyeing of wool.
It's here at Daggett where one can watch as the raw wool being carded by use of paddles before actually being spun into yarn (unless you have a wife like I have who also spins on the large walking wheel as well as a Saxony wheel). As this process is done, the presenter explains every step, from the twisting of the wool onto the bobbin, to plying two single bobbins of thin thread to make one stronger thread, to winding the finished thread into a skein by using a yarn winder (also known as a clock reel) or on a niddy noddy.
Here is a video clip of the spinning process:

According to author Alice Morse Earle in her wonderful book, Home Life in Colonial Days, The wool industry easily furnished home occupation to an entire family. Often by the bright firelight in the early evening every member of the household might be seen at work on the various stages of wool manufacture or some of its necessary adjuncts, and varied and cheerful industrial sounds fill the room.

Carding wool: every member of the family played an important role to keep the household running like a well-oiled wheel.

The grandmother, at light and easy work, is carding the wool into fleecy rolls. The mother, stepping as lightly as one of her girls, spins the rolls into woolen yarn on the great wheel. The oldest daughter sits at the clock-reel, whose continuous buzz and occasional click mingles with the humming rise and fall of the wool-wheel, and the irritating scratch, scratch, scratch of the cards. A little girl at the small wheel is filling quills with woolen yarn for the loom, not a skilled work. The father is setting fresh teeth in a wool card, while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom spools.

My wife has found carding and especially spinning to her liking and it has become a relaxing part of her day.

The skeins could then be washed before use.

The large walking wheels were very common in colonial homes. The fiber is held in the left hand and the wheel slowly turned with the right. This wheel is then good for using the long-draw spinning technique, which requires only one active hand most of the time, and can free a hand to turn the wheel.

The walking wheel in action

The spinner begins to slowly turn the drive wheel clockwise with the right hand, while simultaneously walking backward and drawing the fiber in the left hand away from the spindle at an angle. The left hand must control the tension on the wool to produce an even result. The process is continuously repeated. Thus the name "walking wheel."

Here's another short video of the Daggett Farm walking wheel being used:

The ladies of the Daggett house enjoy a well-deserved break from spinning

But break times in the Daggett home were few and quick. Back to work, for "idle hands are the devil's workshop."

Preparing to dye wool...

Outside in the yard a large vat of water is boiled over a fire pit. This is part of the process of having spun wool dyed to a variety of colors. The women of the family would hunt through fields and woods for flowers, leaves, and bark to dye their wool, crushing walnut shells for brown, goldenrod blossoms for yellow, and roots of the madder plant for red.

The ingredients were boiled in water until the liquid becomes the desired shade, then skeins of yarn were simmered in the vat of dye.

From sheep to shawl and then some!

Here is a run-down of what the folks at Daggett use for their presentation (from a Daggett Farm presenter):

 
Brown~black walnuts. The walnuts have to be allowed to rot, the longer they rot the darker brown you will get.

Blue~the best dye for this is Indigo. There is a plant called woad that could be used but it is highly invasive.

Yellow~ The inner bark from the osage orange tree works, but the easiest to find is calendula petals. Some people call the flower a pot marigold as well.

Green~ the best way to get green is an over dye of blue and yellow. Dye the yarn yellow first and then dip it in the blue.

Red~The cochineal beetle gives the best reds. With these a little goes a long way.

Pink~Pokeberry (it's nice that these can be used for something as the seeds of this plant are toxic) Daggett has one of these plants in the garden.

Orange~Madder root. The madder plant needs to be taken out and the root actually broken open (it will appear bright orange) I believe there is also a madder plant at Daggett.

Purple~ Logwood

Black~This is an over dye of logwood and black walnut.

Before dyeing any wool yarn it needs to soak in a mordant; Alum is the one that is used at Daggett.
As with washing the wool one has to use the same temperature water and not stir or agitate it or it will felt.

Also these items get tied up in cheesecloth so that nothing sticks to the yarn.

Here is a short video clip of the wool dyeing process:

The dyed wool...

I find that old "idle hands are the devil's workshop" proverb fascinating, for throughout the colonial period it seems that there has always been little time for frivolity and relaxation; they were always busy doing something or another. The saying has its roots in the bible, and since the colonists as a whole were a religious sort, they followed the biblical teachings and principles as best they could.
Knowing this, an answer that I found on Got Questions.org  opened my eyes further to the ways and even the thought process of our colonial ancestors:
"Though the statement is not found verbatim in the Bible, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” has its roots in Scripture. The apostle Paul notes that those who waste their time in idleness or in a non-productive manner are easily led into sin: “We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies”(2 Thessalonians 3:11). By not using their time productively, these people were tempted to meddle in other people’s business and stand in the way of their progress. “They get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to” (1 Timothy 5:13). 
These idlers and busybodies were wasting time that could have been used to help others. In essence, their lack of activity was leading them into sin.
And now let's think of all the time we spend on Facebook and Twitter..."idle hands" indeed!

To learn more about entertaining your 18th century friends inside the Giddings home, click the clip:

The Giddings formal parlor

The Giddings formal parlor

The Giddings formal parlor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the essential skills throughout the colonial period was brewing beer for family use. Diaries of rural housewives reveal that they baked and brewed on the same day with both activities requiring yeast. But brewing also depended on barley (grain) for malting, and hops for flavor and fermenting. Much of the beer brewed in the home was called “small” or “near beer” – that is, it had a low alcohol content – and was consumed by both young and old. According to the book, Tidings From the 18^th Century by Beth Gilgun, it was considered dangerous to drink too much water so cider and beer was served at meals. Small beer offered nourishment and kept the drinker from being “feeble in the summer.” 

To learn in greater detail of the colonial brewing of beer, please watch the following clip (sorry about the wind sound you hear - it was a windy day!):

 Here's another beer brewing clip:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wife make thine owne candle,

Spare pennie to handle.

Provide for thy tallow, ere frost cometh in.

And make thine owne candle, ere winter begin

(Thomas Tusser - 16th century English poet)

Alice Morse Earle wrote, "The making of the winter's stock of candles was the special autumnal house-hold duty, and a hard one too, for the great kettles were tiresome and heavy to handle. An early hour found the work well under way."

An autumn tradition

In our modern times we think of the pre-electric light era as being very dark, with the nighttime homes lit by candles, as was generally done in the colonial era. By the mid-19th century, the much brighter oil lamps had a strong foothold in American society and candles began their fade as a necessity, although they were still in great use, especially in the more rural areas. And in the later 1800s candles did not necessarily need to be made at home anymore...one could go to the store and purchase them fairly cheaply instead of going through the whole process of making them in the way their fore-fathers did. However, I have read in numerous books citing diaries of many folks making their own candles well into the early part of the 20th century. In fact, in Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder tells the tale of young Almanzo helping his mother make candles with a mold, and this was in the 1860s.
Artificial light in the 18th century was truly a luxury. People were used to working by daylight, so lighting a candle while the sun was up was rare. It was customary for folks to move from room to room to get the most out of the day's light. In most homes candles were lit only during the nighttime hours, and sparingly so, due to the lengthy candle-making process. According to one source, a typical middle class home in the 1750's would go through nearly 500 candles a year. And that may even be a conservative view - it would not be a surprise if many homes went through at least a third more than that!

Dipping candles was a top priority - does this family have enough for the coming dark months of winter?

Colonial women dipped candles - or used metal molds - as part of their domestic work. As you have read, Colonial homes were as self-sufficient as they could be and did their best to produce as many things needful to life as they could, and this did include candles. Candlemaking was not a fun hobby then as it is in our modern times — it was a labor assigned to the housewife and children. And a backbreaking, smelly, greasy task it was. For a long time, candles were made only of animal fat, and housewives collected every scrap after butchering and cooking of meats was completed. These precious fats were hoarded carefully, protected in covered crocks. At candlemaking time, the fat was melted down and the dipping process began.
Candle-making season was usually in early-to-mid November. It had to be just cold enough for quick hardening, and followed shortly after fall hunting, where the waist fat from the animals was used to make tallow candles. The animal fat was cut into pieces and rendered (melted). The fat was boiled, caked, pressed, sieved, and purified several times. Wicks were made from cotton or, less often. from milkweed. The wicks were dipped repeatedly into a tub of tallow, and with each dip the candles became larger and larger until the desired length and width was had.

It's here that we can quote Susan Blunt, a woman from the early 19th century, who remembered her 18th century mother candle dipping:
"Mother used to dip candles in the fall, enough to last all winter. When a beef was killed in the fall, she would use all the tallow for candles. On the evening before, we would help her prepare the wicks. The boys would cut a lot of rods and she would cut the wicks the length of a candle and then string them on the rods."

Ms. Blunt continues, "In the morning she would commence her day's work. (She would) dip each one in the hot tallow and straighten out the wicks so the candles would be straight when they were finished. By raising the candles (out of the kettle) at just the right speed and working on a day with a moderate temperature, the fine quality of the candles would be assured. The candles would be cooled overnight and the bottom ends cut off nearly. The finished candles were packed away in a mouse-proof container for safe storage."

A candle lit McGuffey Cabin

Fortunately for early American women with the want to get them, there were candlemaking materials available; for instance, New England gave them bayberries, which have a heavenly scent — quite a change from the stinky animal-fat candles. Bayberries were introduced to the Colonial women by their Native American neighbors, who also showed them how to get the wax out of the berries. Another source of candle wax was beeswax, and many farm families raised bees, primarily for their honey and their pollination work, but also to get the sweet-smelling beeswax. Lucky was the Colonial farmer with a hive or two of bees!
Some scented candles, such as the above-mentioned bayberry candles (made during the late autumn when the berries were ripest), burned slowly and gave off a fine incense, particularly when the candle was snuffed out.
Each morning it was the hired girl or one of the children's jobs to clean and fit the candlesticks with new candles long enough to last an evening and then stored in the kitchen, where they would be easy to find when darkness fell. 
If there was a fire in the hearth that had been for cooking or for warmth, candles might not even be used; as long as one could see well enough to eat, spin, knit, whittle, or do any number of other duties by the light from the fireplace, a candle would be considered wasteful. I've also read that on a bright moonlit night, especially when there was snow covering the ground, the reflection of light from outside could be bright enough for one to read while indoors!
~ (The above candle information came from a variety of sources, including an on line source by M. J. Abadie, various books listed at the end of this posting, and from the presenters at Daggett) ~

McGuffey Cabin with camera flash. I like the softer candle-lit light better, don't you?

Betty Lamp

Though candles were far and away the most popular form of lighting (aside from the hearth), Betty Lamps, commonly made of brass or iron, first came into being in the 18^th century and were occasionally used in a colonial home or workshop.

With fish oil or fat trimmings for fuel and twisted wicks of cloth, they were the forerunner of the oil lamp used later in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

~ ~ ~

The three main months of autumn - September, October, and November - is when the fall harvest time takes place. What I hope to show here is not only the labor of these hard-working people, but of the satisfaction our ancestors received for a job well done. The fruits of their labor ensured their survival, and there was no time for "sick days," nor did they have a "sick bank" to enter if they felt 'stressed out' and needed time off to 'get their head together.'
If one didn't put their time in, they, and possibly others, didn't eat.
I am also hoping that the reader will find a deeper appreciation for the way our ancestors lived and maybe even be enticed to grow their own kitchen garden by way of non-gmo heirloom seeds. 

I would like to quote from Senior Manager of Creative Programs at Greenfield Village, Jim Johnson, as I feel I cannot explain this aspect of harvest time any better than what Mr. Johnson has written:

The Daggetts would have stored away a variety of root vegetables in stone-lined pits that would have prevented hard freezing for turnips, potatoes, beets and other similar vegetables. The earth is a great insulator, especially a small hillside. These outside “root cellars,” dug deep enough and lined with stone, provided the protection needed. The stone lining not only insulates, but keeps the items stored away cleaner. The wooden cover/door with added straw insulation made access throughout the winter possible. A heavy layer of snow would further help to keep the storage area from freezing. This would normally be in addition to the cellar of the house, also used for food storage.

Cabbages would have been pulled roots and all and also stored in similar ways. Pumpkins and other winter squash would have been kept in house cellars or possibly garrets (attics), to prevent freezing, allowing them to be used well into the winter months. Several other root vegetables like parsnips and salsify would have just been kept in the frozen ground of the garden and dug out as needed.

By this time of year, beans and peas would have been dried and stored away in sacks in cool dry locations. Dried peas and beans used in soups, stews, and baked bean dishes were simply left to fully mature on their vines or stalks in the field. Once completely dry, they were pulled by the roots and loaded into a cart or wagon and hauled back to the barn. In some cases, the partially dried plants were attached to long poles set-up in the field, once fully dried, the “bean” poles were hauled back to the barn to await further processing. This allowed a nice compact way to store them.

Much like threshing grain (more on this later), beans and peas were laid out on a flat surface, usually on a tarp, and hit with a wooden flail (two lengths of wood connected by a leather lace). The wooden flail would break apart the pods and loosen up the dried beans or peas. Once loose from pods, the beans and peas were carefully scooped up and then cleaned by a process called winnowing. Using the breeze, the bean and peas were flipped up and down in a large shallow basket. The dust and lighter debris would blow away leaving the beans or peas behind. Once clean, they would be stored away in barrels or clean sacks. Dried green beans were re-constituted and added to soups or stews in the winter and early spring when nothing green was available.

With careful planning, all these sorts of vegetables would carry over the family’s needs until the new summer produce became available again. It’s no wonder that the first early greens from the garden were so looked forward to after a winter of starchy root vegetables. 

Early autumn harvest

 The great thing about visit the Daggett farm throughout the fall, we can see the presenters harvesting and storing away a variety of garden produce.

Fruit, especially apples, was another important food item carefully preserved for the winter. The Daggetts had very limited technology when it came to “canning” as we know it today. Fruit jams or preserves were kept in small crocks or glass jars and sealed with bees wax, spirit soaked parchment, or animal bladders that when tightly drawn over the jar opening, would dry and seal off the jar (they were reusable). Lots of fruit was dried by slicing and lying out in baskets or on wooden racks. Fresh fruit was carefully packed in barrels whole to keep in a cool spot.

As autumn gave way to winter, darkness became king of the 24 hour day, and it dictated daily activities.

The winter time sure looks cold to me, coming up around the bend, but the Daggett Farm House has withstood nearly 300 years of winter weather! To learn more about how our ancestors survived winter, click HERE

Buried in nighttime blackness reduced the once family-sized home into a single room in many cases, for many families closed off the parlors to decrease the amount of warming space.  With a dim glow, life centered around the hearth or stove for warmth and possibly a candle for any of the limited activities of which they may have partaken.

The kitchen at Daggett: the hearth fire and candle flame for light to stave off the cold and night time darkness.

The light at it's brightest

Low level of light - - - 
A solitary candle to light the night - 
anymore than that would be wasteful.

As the foreboding darkness cloaked the landscape, folks retreated to their abodes to wait the liberating first morning light, many fearing ghosts, specters, apparitions, and even criminals and other creatures of the night. A dim visual world began where life centered around the flicker of a candle and, in cooler weather, the warming flames of a hearth. This low level of lighting created only pockets of brightness, leaving most of the room in darkness.  Forget about the Hollywood movies showing people enjoying a pleasant winter's eve reading by candlelight - I've tried and it's pretty darn difficult to do for any length of time. As Laura Wirt wrote in 1818, "writing by a dim firelight. I can scarcely see." Activities were limited to things that didn’t require the best vision, and storytelling – including Bible stories & family history tales - were popular. But it’s also said that the folks during the colonial-era could actually see better in darkness than modern people can. Although I know of no scientific data to back this, to me it makes sense; while our entire world is seemingly engulfed in electric lighting, citizens of the 18^th century lived in natural light and darkness, for candles and the hearth give off little light, therefore that sense of sight would naturally be stronger, wouldn’t it?

Working by the light of day or by candle light at night inside Daggett House. However sparingly, candles were still needed more often than not in the nighttime hours. As one woman reminisced: "When evening came we used to set a candle on a candle stand and pull the stand to the center of the room so that four people could sit around it and see to work."

And Frederick Law Olmstead, in 1853, was chastised by the servant when he asked for a candle so that he might write a letter (I am quoting it here the way it was originally written): "Not if you hab a fire," the servant told him. "Can't you see by da light of da fire? When a gentleman hab a fire in his room, dey don't count he wants no mo' light 'n dat." 

And that's all the light I need.

Two lanterns?
Well...I brought one of my own, you see, so we could double the brightness.

With cloak on, the cold will not be as bad.
Yes, these were called 'riding hoods' (as in
“Little Red”), and red was the most
popular color. In 1773, the ladies in Virginia
were described in this manner, “Almost
every lady wears a red cloak,” though not
all cloaks were red.

The coldness of the winter time was as tough for the good folks of the colonial era as we can imagine. Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, commented in a letter to his friend John Adams that he "shudder(s) at the approach of winter, and wish I could sleep through it with the doormouse, and only wake with him in spring..."  

Sleeping with another person was a way to generate warmth in the bed chamber. From earliest childhood, our ancestors had slept together – infants with their parents, then with their siblings, cousins, or even friends, and then with apprentices, or domestic help of the same sex. So used to sleeping with others that sleeping partners were often sought out.  

Of course, sleeping with a marriage partner was the most desirable way of keeping warm; in January of 1775 Esther Burr wrote, "Pray what do you think everybody marrys in, or about Winter for? 'Tis quite merry, isn't it? I really believe 'tis for fear of laying cold, and for the want of a bedfellow. Well, my advice to such is the same with the apostles, LET THEM MARRY---and you know the reason given by Him, as well as I do---TIS BETTER TO MARRY THAN TO ______."

Plympton and Daggett - colonial neighbors surviving winter.

Bed-warmer

Harriet Beecher Stowe remembered her Aunt Lois setting a candle in their room and “admiring the forest of glittering frost-work which had been made by our breath freezing upon the threads of the blanket.”  
Using a long-handled brass warming pan filled with the hot coals from the hearth was one way to warm a bed before slipping in. It would be placed between the sheets and rubbed along the length of the bed quickly and steadily, as to not spill the burning coals. In this manner the bed would become sufficiently warm enough to climb in.

But not everyone had this sort of warming luxury, for Mrs. Stowe recalled a family taking their leave to "bed-chambers that never knew a fire, where the very sheets and blankets seemed so full of stinging cold air that they made one's fingers tingle; and where, after getting into bed, there was a prolonged shiver, until one's own internal heat-giving economy had warmed through the whole icy mass."

Mrs. Stowe also warned that “whoever touched a door-latch incautiously in the early morning received a skinning bit from Jack Frost,” while Harriet Martineau recalled those winter mornings when even with a good hot coal fire in her chamber stove “everything you touch seems to blister your fingers with cold.” James Stuart found it “difficult to preserve the body in sufficient warmth, even wrapped in two suits of clothes, and everyone kept on stockings and flannel garments during the night." 

"The ink froze in my pen in lifting it to the paper from an ink-horn, placed within the fender in front of a good fire." - James Stuart

Remember:  

If the only light and heat comes from candles and fireplaces because of a power outage at your house, it is frustrating and annoying - 

but when it comes in the form of intimate tours of an 18th or 19th-century village, 

it is charming and peaceful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Family and friends gather together

The gathering of neighbors was just as important in the colonial times as it is today, and folks would come together for a number of different reasons. House and barn raisings, for example, required a large amount of people - young and old - and were often concluded with refreshments. Lively frolics would sometimes follow such an activity and kept some up later than usual, keeping the next day's chores, shall we say, impaired.

The young folk preferred to frolic, and it was at the husking, quilting, and apple-paring parties that were most fondly remembered due to the festivity of the occasion as well as the opportunity for courtship. These were all time-consuming tasks that could be easily divided among a large group of people, giving ample time for getting to know one another a little better.

Spinning frolics, church socials...nearly any reason for the gathering of friends and, at times, the mixing of couples, would be cause for a party, though they needed to be organized and planned well ahead in order to prepare ample refreshments and to make sure useful work could be accomplished.

But frolics were not necessarily only for working; a "slaying frolic" took place in York, Maine in 1792: "27 young men and women had an entertainment after a Slaying Frolick and returned well."

As author Jane C. Nylander wrote in Our Own Snug Fireside: "These community rituals encompassed sanctioned forms of courtship behavior. By combining them with work, people fulfilled their sense of duty and (mollified) their guilt at entertaining for pure pleasure."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Preparing my horse for travel

Travel in colonial America was hazardous and fatiguing. It is assumed ordinary middling people traveled more than likely by foot to get from home to village and, in many cases, elsewhere as well. In rural areas, strangers were welcomed into the homes of the locals where no tavern existed. Travelers relied on word of mouth to find taverns for overnight lodging.

Weather was an uncertainty and bad conditions could delay the best laid plans of any traveler. William Palfrey wrote in 1773 of “a most tedious Journey occasion’d by heavy Rains and high Winds which prevented my crossing the Ferries.”

Women traveled infrequently, most often under the protection of fathers, brothers, husbands, or male escorts. A lone female traveler was a rarity, though not unheard of. There is a story of a woman who showed up at a tavern alone one evening and was asked by the keeper, “What in the world brings You here at this time of night? I never saw a woman on the Rode so Dreadfull late in all the days of my versall life.”

In 1778 Katherine Farham wrote about traveling alone: “I was in great distress, but what could I do in a publick House, no person to take care of me?”

At the tavern...

Food at a tavern was generally fair, serving such delights as bread and cheese, pigeon fricassee, roast fowl, pasties, and pie, all washed down with a tankard or mug of cider. At times, however, the servings could be rather awful. Sara Knight wrote in her diary about her travels by horse from Boston to new York and a stay at the local ordinary (tavern): "We would have eat a morsell, but the Pumpkin and Indian-mixt Bread had such an aspect, and the bare-Legg'd Punch so awkwerd or rather awfull that we left both."
 
Mention a tavern today and the immediate reaction is a bar - a place to drink. As Alice Morse Earle wrote in her book Stage Coach and Tavern Days: "Though today somewhat shadowed by a formless reputation of being frequently applied to hostelries of vulgar resort and coarse fare & ways, the word 'tavern' is neverless a good one..."
With that in mind, the tavern has ever played an important part in social, political, and military life, and has helped to make history. From the earliest days when men gathered to talk over the terrors of Indian warfare through the renewal of these fears in the French and Indian War, and through all the anxious but steadfast years preceding and during the Revolution, these gatherings were held in the 'ordinaries' or taverns.

The tavern was the rendezvous for patriotic bands who listened to the stirring words of American rebels, and mixed dark treason to King George with every bowl of punch they drank. The story of our War for Independence could not be dissociated from the old taverns, they are a part of our national history, and those which still stand are among our most interesting Revolutionary relics.

A tavern conversation might revolve around local events, gossip, or turn to a discussion of the acts of Parliament in distant England. As was written in 1732: “To avoid conversation is to Act against the Intention of nature. To live then as men we must confer with men. Conversations must be one of the greatest pleasures of life.”
Information at taverns was also gathered through newspapers, notices, and broadsides. And the conversations and discussions continued loudly into the wee hours. As Alexander Hamilton observed, “I returned to my lodging at eight o’clock, and the post being deliver’d, I found a numerous company at Slater’s reading the news. Their chit-chat and noise kept me awake 3 hours after I went to bed.”

Reading the latest news from a broadside: The tavern has played an important part in the formation of our country, for this was where "the rendezvous for patriotic bands who listened to the stirring words of American rebels, and mixed dark treason to King George with every bowl of punch they drank. The War for Independence can not be disassociated from taverns." 

 The Revolutionary War affected nearly every person in the colonies, and due to the loyalties of either side of the conflict, the subject was on every tongue and caused many friends to become enemies. Now, I don't plan to get too much into the conflict here, for I have already done a blog post about that (With Liberty and Justice For: The Fight For Independence at Henry Ford Museum), but my article here would not be complete if I didn't at least touch a little upon this.

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, who, at the time, was a recent political activist immigrant from England, and was published anonymously on January 10, 1776. It explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence in clear, simple language. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. 

What I have to present to you is a clip so you can see and hear "ordinary" colonial folk discuss the events of this Revolutionary War, and more specifically, how patriotic fervor from a simple-yet-powerful pamphlet caused much discussions inside the taverns of the day:

Here is an exact replica of the January 1776 pamphlet that caused all the commotion

 

And the women caught the patriotism bug right along side their men. Here is a reenactment taking place inside the Daggett House recreating the completion and presentation of the Betsy Ross flag in 1776.

And, of course, we proudly hung the flag out the window of the house.

Even the Giddings girls were impressed with the 
fine work the ladies did in making the flag.

So, how about a little fife and drum music fitting for a Revolution:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Of course, learning of the every day lives of any past era has always been my main course of study, but reading of our colonial ancestor's survival through even harsher terms than the Civil War era makes me admire these folks even more.

We can look back today and say, "oh, how awful our ancestors had it. What miserable lives they lead!"

Chopping wood was not just a man's chore...

...everybody pitched in.

And our future descendents may say the same of us 200 years from now. But, just as our ancestors didn't think of their lives as miserable, neither do we of our own. Well, at least most of us don't.  Just as the people of the future should not condemn our morals and actions as not being like their own, neither should we condemn those in the past for living the lives of their time with their own morals and actions.
Instead of condemnation, we can learn from them.
Plain and simple, we need to stop placing our modern sense and sensibilities upon those from the past. We need to look at their world through their eyes and mind, not ours. Just like we have no true idea of what comforts the future may bring us - therefore not missing what we do not have - the same goes for our ancestors who knew absolutely nothing of future comforts that we now take for granted. In all honesty, it would not surprise me one bit if our forefathers and foremothers would not think very highly of our lifestyle at all.

I would be willing to bet they were probably much happier than many today give them credit for. 

Heading home...

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I have found scads of other wonderful information that helped to bring this era alive. What I have written here in this posting about colonial life is barely a sliver of ice on an iceburg of the information available. But, if it piques your interest in the colonial era even just a little, then I have done my job. Too bad it's not a paying job!
I do consistently add to this post so please make return visits.
And you can see that my excursion into the Colonial period, not unlike my passion for the mid-19th century, also centers on the social history of the time. I've always loved social history; the wars and battles, although I realize were important and I do read about every-so-often, never interested me nearly as much as everyday life.
The greater majority of the photos included throughout this posting are some that I took of the colonial era homes at Greenfield Village, my solace from the 21st century. Except for the picture of Daggett at the very top of this post. That one was taken by historical presenter Larissa Fleishman.
And, yes, I'm in many of them. Not an ego thing, it's just that the photos fit what I was looking for. Plus there aren't that many colonial men at Greenfield Village.

It really amazes me just how historically blessed I am to have the opportunity to visit the numerous eras of American history, from the colonial period through the 20th century, in places very near to where I live.
Almost, but not quite, as good as living in a historical house!

And for your colonial entertainment, please click the links below:
 Colonial dancing at the Raleigh Tavern located in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

And here's another video about child life in colonial times:

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The following are the books I turned to in writing this post:
Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle
Stage Coach and Tavern Days by Alice Morse Earle
Welcome to Felicity's World 1774
A Midwife's Tale - Laural Thatcher Ulrich
Diary of Anna Green Winslow - with an introduction by Alice Morse Earle
Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the New England Home 1760 - 1860 by Jane C. Nylander
Your Travel Guide to Colonial America by Nancy Day
Tidings from the 18th Century by Beth Gilgun
Early American Tavern by Kym S. Rice
What Clothes Reveal: The language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America by Linda Baumgarten
Everyday Life in Colonial America by Dale Taylor
Daily Life in Colonial New England by Claudia Durst Johnson
Colonial Food - Ann Chandonnet 
Food in Colonial and Federal America - Sandra L. Oliver


And here are a few colonial era movies. Not all are necessarily historically accurate, and a couple concentrate on war, but I do still enjoy watching them. By the way, the reviews have been taken from various movie review sites, and I included my own personal small observations as well:

John Adams -

"Based on David McCullough's bestselling biography, the HBO miniseries John Adams is the furthest thing from a starry-eyed look at America's founding fathers and the brutal path to independence. Adams (Paul Giamatti), second president of the United States, is portrayed as a skilled orator and principled attorney whose preference for justice over anti-English passions earns enemies. The first thing one notices about John Adams' dramatizations of congress' proceedings, and the fervent pro-independence violence in the streets of Boston and elsewhere, is that America's roots don't look pretty or idealized here. Some horrendous things happen in the name of protest, driving Adams to push the cause of independence in a legitimate effort to get on with a revolutionary war under the command of George Washington.

Besides this peek into a less-romanticized version of the past, John Adams is also a story of the man himself. Adams' frustration at being forgotten or overlooked at critical junctures of America's early development--sent abroad for years instead of helping to draft the U.S. constitution--is detailed. So is his dismay that the truth of what actually transpired leading to the signing of the Declaration of Independence has been slowly forgotten and replaced by a rosier myth. But above all, John Adams is the story of two key ties: Adams' 54-year marriage to Abigail Adams (Laura Linney), every bit her husband's intellectual equal and anchor, and his difficult, almost symbiotic relationship with Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) over decades."
Ken's Observation: "the furthest thing from a starry-eyed look at America's founding fathers" as is quoted here does not mean they make our Founding Fathers look like bumbling idiots, sex fiends, or 21st century people thrown into an 18th century world. There is no modern PC to make it contemporary. It's a very well-done historical drama that shows people as they were in a very natural way. Hands down as authentic as it gets!  

A Midwife's Tale -  “In 1785, America was a rough and chaotic young nation, and Maine its remote northern frontier. That year, at the age of 50, Martha Ballard began the diary that she would keep for the next 27 years, until her death. At a time when fewer than half the women in America were literate, Ballard faithfully recorded the weather, her daily household tasks, her midwifery duties (she delivered close to a thousand babies), her medical practice, and countless incidents that reveal the turmoil of a new nation -- dizzying social change, intense religious conflict, economic boom and bust -- as well as the grim realities of disease, domestic violence, and debtor's prison.
In "A Midwife's Tale" the daily activities, the physical feel of the people and buildings involved, and the historical verity that helps us envision late 18th century life, are always conscious - these eighteenth-century details are overlooked treasures that are rich in the texture of everyday life.  
The actors were unfamiliar. They look like real people, not movie stars. Family dynamics were more believable and souring relationships took on terrific poignancy.

Martha Ballard is played by actress Kaiulani Sewall Lee, a direct descendant of the Sewall family of Maine -- people the real Martha Ballard knew, aided in childbirth, and nursed through illness.”

Ken's Observation: This docu-drama just brought the historic colonial homes I often visit (like the 1750 Daggett Farmhouse inside Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI) to life. This is one of the most amazing films about everyday 18th century life - - wow----it authentically and accurately brought the era and people of the Founding Generation to life like I've never experienced. Seriously...this struck a strong chord in me. After the first 15 minutes or so, it played more like a movie than a docu-drama. Real life history.

George Washington Mini-Series
“A sweeping eight-hour, three-part miniseries chronicling the life of Washington from ages 11 to 51, beginning just after the death of his father in 1743 and taking him through his journeyman days as a young surveyor, his hidden love for Sally Fairfax (the wife of his best friend), his marriage to widowed Martha Custis, his involvement in the French and Indian Wars, his premature retirement from military life and his return to uniform to head the American colonists in the Revolutionary War. It concludes with his emotional farewell to his officers and his return to Mount Vernon following war's end. Barry Bostwick heads an all-star cast in this dramatization of historian James Thomas Flexner's four volume "George Washington" biography."
Ken's Observation: I was seriously blown away by this mini-series. It put flesh on the bones of the Father of our Country like no other, which, from what I've read on various sites, is unlike the new movie about Washington that is supposedly being released in 2015. This one from 1984 sticks to the truth by following documents and letters, whereas the new one, I hear, will be taking a few extreme 21st century liberties and fallacies in hopes to show Washington "as a real man." Yeah...as a real 21st century Hollywood man. If this is true then I'll stick to this one, thank you.

 Mary Silliman's War - 
"Often forgotten when we think of the Revolutionary War is the involvement of non-combatants.  In this case, General Silliman was not commanding troops but rather served as a state’s attorney.  He was caught up in the intense conflict between the Tories, Whigs and those who tried to remain neutral.  Silliman was abducted during the night by Tories and taken to Long Island and imprisoned. 
His wife, wonderfully portrayed by Nancy Palk, rises to the occasion and works to obtain his freedom through various plans of exchange.  Time and time again she is thwarted.  Wonderfully depicted is the neighbor vs. neighbor clashes of civilians as well as conflict with those in authority who find General Silliman a convenient political bargaining chip.

This is a wrenching tale.  Absent are the ranks of soldiers firing in battle.  Instead, there is the struggle of a woman to overcome the myriad of obstacles in her way.  Eventually, she very reluctantly resorts to desperate measures." (This review from All Things Liberty web site)

Ken's Observation: This was a very impressive, well-made movie. Who needs Hollywood when independents can show history much more accurate? Yes, an excellent movie about a part of the Revolutionary War rarely shown.

April Morning"
"This is simply a gem of a movie based on Howard Fast's excellent 1962 novel of the first day of hostilities between colonists and Britain.

There may have been bigger blockbusters made about the American Revolution (The Patriot,  etc.) but this under- rated 1988 film is a true classic, capturing the quintessential decency of American colonial village life in Lexington and the developing tensions and conflict on that fateful day of 19th April 1775.

April Morning is also effective because it does not glamorize war or demonize the redcoats. In fact, a Patriot and a Redcoat are both seen, at various stages, to be scared witless by the whiff of grapeshot and of battle. Yet overall, in what is truly a momentous day for the villagers of Lexington and Concord, we see how the events mature a young colonist, and this is brilliantly illustrated at the end of the film when he leads his family in prayer for their food and life. This very subtle approach makes it evident that the boy, like colonial America, is gone forever and has been replaced by a decent man who would, with humility, be worthy of his emerging new leadership role-in young America."
Ken's Observations: This is another movie that took me by surprise when I discovered it a couple years ago. We now make it an annual watch on either April 18 or 19. I highly recommend this you-are-there movie.

 
There are more out there but, to me these are the best.
I do advise you to stay away from such trash as "The Story of US" put out by the History Channel. So much is glazed over or not even touched upon. In fact, so little time is spent on the early years of our nation that one would think the great explorers came over in the year 1800!


And here are a few of my other postings that pertain to the colonial era of our Nation's history:
Civil War vs Colonial Reenacting
Why I do two eras and the difference between reenacting and living history. Plus my complaints about so-called historians who have degrees.

Collecting History - The Old North Church Lantern
Yep - I got the Bicentennial replica of this oh-so-important piece of American History!

Colonial Christmas
A history of Christmas in America's colonial past.

Colonial Cooking: On the Hearth
A post dedicated solely to colonial-era kitchen and cooking - lots of pictures!

Colonial Ken on a Horse 2015 (Part of the 5 Senses post):
I wore full colonial garb and rode a horse for photo opps. Pretty cool! (End of article is where you'll find the pictures)

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village
My first outing dressed in colonial clothing - and on the 139th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War to boot!

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village on Patriots Day
April 19 - Paul Revere and the beginning of the Revolutionary War must never be forgotten. I will do my part.

Colonial Ken & Friends - 4th of July 2014: Celebrating Independence Day in a Colonial Way
For the first time, a few of us celebrated our Nation's birth as if it were 1776.

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village for the 4th of July 2015
A repeat of 2014, but different. And every bit as patriotic! As an extra bonus: Bastille Day!

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village for the Fall Harvest 
I'm at it again, only this time I was able to enjoy the season of fall during the 1770s while in my period clothing. I even got to make beer!

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village on Black Friday
My annual anti-Black Friday excursion to Greenfield Village. In colonial clothes!

Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village for New Year's 2015/16
I again wore my colonial clothing for Holiday Nights, only I concentrated on the new Year's aspect of the Holiday season. Oh what fun!

Colonial Kensington 2014: Spending Time in the 1770's
Our first foray as a family reenacting the Revolutionary War

Colonial Kensington 2015
One of the best colonial reenactments in the area! And...I met Ben Franklin!

The Daggett House
a wonderful history that bring the house and family to life

Dept. 56: Colonial Williamsburg Lighted House Collection
Ceramic lighted houses based on actual historic buildings from America's colonial period - how cool is that?

Dept. 56: My Own Personal Daggett Farm House and Farris Windmill
Home sweet colonial home
 
Detroit: A True Colonial City  
Would you be surprised to learn Detroit was being settled at the same time as the 13 colonies?

Faces of History: Original Photographs of Revolutionary War Vets
Yes, you heard right! Actual photos of the men who fought in the Revolutionary War

Flags of Our Founding Fathers
Learn the history of the early flags of our United States

Fort Wayne 2014
My first *real* colonial reenactment (with a little Civil War to boot).
I did the 1860's on Saturday and the 1770's on Sunday

Fort Wayne 2015
It was a rain out, but I still got a few cool pictures before it hit. Plus, Kristen's first time as a colonial!!

Future Colonial Reenacting Plans
My plans to expand reenacting beyond Civil War.

Greenfield Village: Colonial Ken Visits Greenfield Village 2014
My first time ever in public wearing colonial clothing

In the Good Old Colony Days
A concise pictorial to everyday life in America's colonies

It's the Little Things
Another post that touches on a variety of subjects,  such as Shadow Portraits, Bourdaloues, Revolutionary Mothers, and a few other interesting historical odds & ends.

Kensington Reenactment 2014 - Spending Time in the 1770's
Our first large colonial/Rev War reenactment - what fun we had!

Kensington 2015
One of the best colonial reenactments in the area! And...I met Ben Franklin!

Noah Webster: Forgotten Founding Father
Yes, the man of the dictionary fame was actually a Founding Father. We almost lost his house to history in exchange for a parking lot. Read all about it here.

Paul Revere: Listen My Children and You Shall Hear...
The true story of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

Meet Paul Revere & Sybil Ludington
Back to the Future Day!
Here is a presentation my friend Larissa and I put together for school kids studying the founding of our nation.

Revere: Collecting History - The Old North Church Lantern 
I finally got an exact replica of the Old North Church Lantern - and it only took 40 years! Here's how it happened...

Reenacting Early American History
Pre-Civil War era reenacting

Revolutionary War History - Preventing Tyranny at Salem in 1775 
How the townsfolk pulled together and beat the British - true pre-RevWar story!

Ste. Clair Voyageurs at Metro Beach: Life on the Frontier
My first time participating as a reenactor here. In fact, my first time attending. It was awesome!

Thanksgiving in Colonial Times
Just how did our colonial ancestors mark this holiday? Read on, my friends!

Travel and Taverns
To help you understand what it was like to travel and stay at a tavern in colonial times.
 
With Liberty and Justice For All: The Fight for Independence at the Henry Ford Museum
Telling the story of America's Fight for Independence by way of the amazing collection of artifacts in the Henry Ford Museum.

You Say You Want a Revolution
The 240th and 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolutionary War is at hand. How will it be handled?

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