Early Homes Molded By Necessity

Thanksgiving is when we especially remember the Pilgrims and Puritans, and their daring to venture to a continent an ocean away, searching for a place where they could worship God as they felt directed.

There’s a sense of nostalgia in most things Colonial American: restored homes and homes built to look like they’re restored, towns recreated to appear as they were (or might have appeared) when our forefathers first planted their roots in New England.

But the very first houses here were not charming, and credit goes to those who left behind the comfort of their homes and life as they knew it. They paid a dear price for religious freedom.

America’s first homes were biodegradable, little more than huts. Some of the earliest Massachusetts newcomers dug square-shaped cellars 6 feet deep and cased the walls with timber. They laid planks on the floor and sheathing overhead; they built a roof frame of spars and covered it with bark or sod. But it was a dry and warm place to call home for a few years.

Most Puritans, however, built their homes above ground. Dirt floors were tamped hard enough to sweep. Windows were scarce and covered with a glazed paper, waxed cloth or pieces of animal horn scraped thin enough to allow a bit of light. Shutters kept out the wind, rain and snow, as well as critters - birds, squirrels, badgers.

Doors were short, making it necessary to stoop before entering. The small entryway helped fend off large animals that might want to investigate the smell of food, or disarm an enemy who would be caught at a disadvantage, half-bent over. Homes were hastily built to protect the residents from the elements, wild animals and the Indians they feared. Most were made of wood from the forests, and also because their homes in the English counties of East Anglia and Kent were built of wood.

The houses faced south, so the noon sun might “shine square” on them, the front serving as the numeral 12 on a clock, allowing the Colonists to keep time reading the shadow cast by the house. (I don’t know what they did on overcast days.)

Families who left homes of many rooms in England settled for houses with a single room - 18- or 20-feet square - in New England, with maybe a loft for sleeping and storage. There would have been no sweeping staircase, of course: just a ladder anchored to the wall.

Furnishings were skimpy those first years. There might have been a couple of chests used to carry their goods and grains across the Atlantic, and there might have been the odd chair, but little else. There would not have been armoires. Pegs pounded into the walls held clothing.

Tables in early American homes were planks set atop sawhorses. Benches were made of split logs (hopefully planed smooth). Stools were little more than stumps.

The fireplace, of walk-in proportions, dominated Colonial homes, usually built along the middle of one wall to distribute the heat more evenly. A fireplace was the center of a home, both physically and socially. This is where the women spent most of their time preparing the days’ three meals, the largest served during the “nooning hour.” There was little in the way of cooking utensils: a brass or copper kettle or two, a frying pan, spit, ladle and an iron hook on which to hang them.

The Puritans - men and women alike - used the King James Bible as their daily guidebook, and it was at the fireplace where they read.

On Thursday, when we give thanks in our warm houses, let’s visualize our ancestors as they ate in their first homes.