Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

A picture of some phases of life in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is presented in the following pages. It follows many of the every day happenings, the manners and customs of daily life. Few realize how modern are the furnishings and comforts of our present-day houses and how different was the home life of our ancestors. Chairs were unknown in ordinary English households until a generation or so before the sailing of the Mayflower. Hats were worn at meals and the use of table forks did not become general until the last of the 1600s. Food was placed in the mouth with the knife or the fingers. This is a collection of source materials, somewhat digested, rather than a comprehensive, well-balanced narrative of daily life in the Colony.

Contents:

Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Voyage To Massachusetts

Their Early Shelters and Later Dwellings

How They Furnished Their Houses

Counterpanes and Coverlets

Concerning Their Apparel

Pewter in the Early Days

The Farmhouse and the Farmer

Manners and Customs

Sports and Games

Trades and Manufactures

Concerning Shipping and Trade

From Wampum To Paper Money

Herb Tea and the Doctor

Crimes and Punishments