"Everyday Life in Early America"

[Jib]

Just finished "Everyday Life in Early America" by David Freeman Hawke. Covered some interesting things I never new about colonial life. I never knew that the main farming technique was to cut a ring around a tree to kill it, thus the following year it will produce no leaves and create no canopy allowing light to reach the floor. Planting was then done around the dead tree. Little effort was made to remove the trees since the task was labor intensive and oxen a rare beast. The book also describes the labor that went into the creation of a saw mill and later a grist mill. Well written and an easy read.

[Red Sea Trade]

One of the most interesting parts of the book for me was the section that discussed regional speech. I grew up just outside New York City and spent many years working in the field of Colonial History, but I had never imagined an African-American New Yorker with a strong Dutch accent. When asked if New York was nearby, the young woman in question replied "Ja, dat are Yarkee." Melting pot indeed!

[Jib]

I liked that part too! The ways of speech often attached to African Americans came from learning English from Indentured Servants was very interesting!

[Fox]

I've never read it, but it sounds very interesting. It's going on the list.

Also worth a read, though perhaps a little dated these days, is G.F. Dow's Everyday Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

[Jas. Hook]

Jib -

Book sounds interesting, I ordered it through the south american river company yesterday.

Jas. Hook

[Jas. Hook]

Just finished "Everyday Life in Early America" by David Freeman Hawke. Covered some interesting things I never new about colonial life. I never knew that the main farming technique was to cut a ring around a tree to kill it, thus the following year it will produce no leaves and create no canopy allowing light to reach the floor. Planting was then done around the dead tree. Little effort was made to remove the trees since the task was labor intensive and oxen a rare beast. The book also describes the labor that went into the creation of a saw mill and later a grist mill. Well written and an easy read.

Or to start an orchard on the site of an abandon privy.

A lot of insight into the lives of the early settlers... it is a wonder that they were successful at all.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Jas. Hook