Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle, 1898
Colonial Kitchens
By night the foot of the bed rested on two heavy legs; by day the frame with its bed furnishings was hooked up to the wall, and covered with homespun curtains or doors. This was the sleeping-place of the master and mistress of the house, chosen because the kitchen was the warmest room in the house.
The Colonial Table
The colonists had plenty of napkins; more, as a rule, than families of corresponding means and station own to-day.
Indian Corn & the Colonists
“In April of the first year they began to plant their corne, in which service Squanto stood them in great stead, showing them both ye manner how to set it, and after, how to dress and tend it.”
Colonial Meat & Drink
[Cider] was supplied in large amounts to students at college, and even very little children drank it. President John Adams was an early and earnest wisher for temperance reform; but to the end of his life he drank a large tankard of hard cider every morning when he first got up. It was free in every farmhouse to all travelers and tramps.
Colonial Hunting & Fishing
Patriarchal lobsters five and six feet long were caught in New York Bay. The traveller, Van der Donck, says “those a foot long are better for serving at table.” Truly a lobster six feet long would seem a little awkward to serve on a dinner table.
