Home Life in Colonial Days (Dover Books on Americana) - Softcover

Earle, Alice Morse

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486447677 ISBN 13: 9780486447674

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2006

Synopsis

Could you identify a sausage gun if you had to? How about a plate warmer or a well-sweep? Any idea how the term log-rolling really originated? Alice Morse Earle (1851–1911), a prolific popular historian and the first American to chronicle everyday life and customs of the colonial era, describes what these and many other obscure utensils were and how they were used. She also conveys a vivid picture of home production of textiles, colonial dress, transportation, religious and social practices, the care of flower gardens, colonial neighborliness, and other aspects of early American life.
Widely read when it was first published in 1898, this fascinating and wonderfully readable guide was instrumental in promoting a renewed interest in everyday life of bygone times. Today, it offers history buffs, collectors, and other interested readers a feast of delightful information.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"When the first settlers landed on American shores, the difficulties in finding or making shelter must have seemed ironical as well as almost unbearable. The colonists found a land magnificent with forest trees of every size and variety, but they had no sawmills, and few saws to cut boards; there was plenty of clay and ample limestone on every side, yet they could have no brick and no mortar; grand boulders of granite and rock were everywhere, yet there was not a single facility for cutting, drawing, or using stone. These homeless men, so sorely in need of immediate shelter, were baffled by pioneer conditions, and had to turn to many poor expedients and be satisfied with rude covering. In Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and, possibly, other states, some reverted to an ancient form of shelter: they became cave-dwellers; caves were dug in the side of a hill and lived in till the settlers could have time to chop down and cut up trees for log houses."
--from Chapter I

In this comprehensive study on the way of life of the early settlers in the New World, Alice Morse Earle accurately details the new experiences of the colonists and the daily struggles and problems they faced.

Once the settlers built homes, they were met with such problems as providing lighting and preparing and storing food. How they met these challenges, how they lived, and how they survived are all brought to life in Home Life in Colonial Days.

About the Author:

Alice Morse Earle was an American historian born in 1851, who wrote many engaging books that cronicled the details of everyday life in colonial America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0486447677
• ISBN 13: 9780486447674
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288