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Colonial HomesBy: Anthony Chen 7A4-ID1

Basic Components of a Colonial House

During the colonial times, houses were basically one big room! If you lived back then, and didn’t like sharing a room, well you couldn’t complain! Anyway, the basic uses for a house would include any daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, working, etc. There had been a fireplace kept inside of each individual housing. The reason for this was to keep the house warm, during harsh winters, or cold days.

Making A Log Cabin

A commonly made home was a log cabin, as it was easy to just get wood, instead of other materials. First of all, men dealt with the construction, so to start off, they would need a axe. After cutting trees down for their logs, the construction would go to the next step of making a square depression on the ground. Then , you would have to set up logs all around the trench. Next, would have to make a roof out of bark, overlapping one another in order to make sure everything had been filled in. Afterward, you would make the windows, set up the floor with the bark, and smoothing it out with a axe. Finally, you would be able to set up the shutters on the windows, and put the furniture inside.

Lighting Up the House

Lighting that had been used for the house, was different for both daytime and nighttime. During the day, in order to get light, the family would have had to cover up the windows with cloth. The cloth had to have fat, which made the cloth visible, allowing light to go through the material, and let light come in. As time went on, people had gotten glass, which was much easier than using a cloth, and made the house nicer. During the night, the light would come from the fireplace, but you wouldn’t be able to always stay by the fireplace, because you had work to do. Also, the amount of light that came from the fireplace, wasn’t much at all.

Sleeping AreasWithin the house, there had been different places for sleeping, for each part of the family. For example, the older children had to sleep in the attic. While being in the attic, they had slept on bags filled with straw or hay. On the other hand, the adults slept in jackbeds, and babies in cradles near the fireplace.

Furniture

There hadn’t been much furniture back in colonial times. During that period, the father had been of an importance to the household. There had been a table for when they had used, and if there were any chairs or a chair at all, the father would sit. This would enforce the other members of the family to sit down, marking how the father was the head of the family. Also, there in some houses, there were “settles”. Settles were benches that could be sat on, instead of a chair. Also as Colonial period continued, there had been cabinetmakers, who made cabinets. This resulted in more furniture, then things had gotten fancier from there on.

ChoresWomen had done most of the chores at home, while men had worked. This was a casual thing at the time, but today this would be seen a sexist. Anyway, woman worked around the house took care of things, cooked, took care of children, etc. Also, the mother made the families clothes, by using flax, and weaving it together. Also, the families had gardens outside of the house, that they needed to tend, which involved weeding the plants.

Fun Fact!

Did you know that around the mid 18th century, people were living in caves? It’s true! In Pennsylvania, the people there had lived for about half a century in caves! They thought it was comfortable living in the caves, as they had done it for the last 50 years! Eventually, the Council forced the people to move and filled in the caves.

Bibliography

Book:Home Life in Colonial Dayshttp://www.leamingsrungardens.com/Images/Farm/1.jpghttp://www.ssdsbergen.org/Colonial/homes.htmlhttp://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/history-of-the-log-cabin0.gifhttp://colonialsense.com/Antiques/Other_Antiques/Early_Lighting.php

Bibliography Cont.http://www.colonialfurniture.us/images/history/history-framed-table.pnghttp://www.colonialfurniture.us/images/history/history-colonial-chair-2.pnghttp://www.1stdibs.com/archivesE/upload/8476/497/8476_1289249242_1_1.jpghttp://www.cccsdv.org/resources/colonial-neighborhood-councilhttp://www.maribelcaves.com/Picture%20023.jpg

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