Carolyn, what a nice response.  Many of my kin came to the Shenandoah
Valley in the 1730s.  I can't imagine how tough the conditions were while
they tried to put up a cabin.  I look at how spoiled I am (can't be too
warm or too cool) and wonder how, genetically, my line survived.

Your comments reminded me of a book I read ...Hollow Folk by Mandel Sherman
and Thomas R. Henry.  It was written in 1933 and tells of life in the
hollows on the Blue Ridge Mountains.  From the tone of your email....I
think you may enjoy it.

Regards,
Madaline



On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:11 AM, Carolyn Bruce <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Quantities of blankets, quilts, and coverlids (a.k.a. counterpanes or
> "countypins") were necessary in homes in which there was no central heat...
> and if the fire went out, no heat at all. Most homes were of wood and had
> no insulating materials. In addition, kinfolks might come to stay awhile,
> often around the holidays... maybe with numerous children, which would
> require providing pallets or some form of bedding to be able to sleep
> everyone comfortably. Straw or corn shucks would be stuffed into "straw
> ticks" which made rudimentary mattresses that were laid on the floor to
> accommodate visitors, especially young un's.
>
> My mother told of growing up in a house with all her brothers and sisters
> (there were ten) at home at one time, sharing beds among them, two or three
> in a bed. There were two upstairs bedrooms, one for the boys and one for
> the girls... but come fall of the year, teachers often boarded at their
> house, and the boys were pushed out into an attic space. Cold wouldn't even
> come close to describing the conditions. At times it was truly freezing in
> the bedrooms and they would have to break ice on top of the water in the
> wash bowl and ewer to wash their faces when they arose.
>
> In the time frame of your "wagoner", it was even colder than in the 20th
> century, at least in the U.S. and Europe. Around 1700, it was so cold in
> the area known as Alsace-Lorraine, it is said that birds froze in flight
> and fell from the sky. Heavy snows fell in most of Europe, and canals and
> streams froze. Remember Hans Brinker, the poor boy (and his sister) who
> competed in the traditional speed-skating race from one town to the next on
> the frozen canal? And all those snowy Currier and Ives prints from that
> period? That was during a centuries-long dip in temperatures that started
> in the early 1300s and ended about the mid-1800s... called the "Little Ice
> Age". So your wagoner would have been most appreciative of having a large
> stockpile of warm blankets and other bedcovers, as would most of his
> neighbors.
>
> Thank goodness for central heat.
>
> Carolyn
>
> --
> Carolyn HALE BRUCE
> Virginia Beach, VA
>
>
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