Home Life in Colonial Days - Hardcover

Earle, Alice Morse

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879280638 ISBN 13: 9780879280635

Publisher: Corner House Pub, 1989

Synopsis

Book by Earle, Alice Morse

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 (1851-1911) was an American historian and author from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was christened Mary Alice by her parents Edwin Morse and Abby Mason Clary. On 15 April 1874, she married Henry Earle of New York, changing her name from Mary Alice Morse to Alice Morse Earle. Her writings, beginning in 1890, focussed on small sociological details rather than grand details, and thus are invaluable for modern sociologists. She wrote a number of books on Colonial America (and especially the New England region) such as Curious Punishments of Bygone Days. She was a passenger aboard the RMS Republic when, while in a dense fog, that ship collided with the SS Florida. During the transfer of passengers, Alice fell into the water. Her near drowning in 1909 off the coast of Nantucket during this abortive trip to Egypt weakened her health sufficiently that she died two years later, in Hempstead, Long Island.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corner House Pub
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0879280638
• ISBN 13: 9780879280635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 470