Area Homeschoolers Study Colonial Life

By Nancy K. Crevier

As part of an integrated program combining history, reading, and math, homeschooled students from the Newtown area met with docent Patty Graves at the Matthew Curtiss House on Main Street Thursday, February 16, for a peek into life as it was during the colonial days. Dressed in a white bonnet and a long, apron-covered dress, Ms Graves described the foods, tools, and customs of the colonial period to the nine students, ranging in age from 7 to 12 years old.

At a small, antique table located in the front room of the home, the children practiced the art of writing their names — with a turkey-feather quill pen. The hollow bones of a bird, Ms Graves explained, made an ideal tool for capturing the ink, just as a cartridge does in today’s modern calligraphy pens.

From there, the students entered the keeping room, “What we now call a kitchen,” said Ms Graves, to assemble the ingredients for applesauce cake and apple cobbler. The group listened attentively as Ms Graves pointed out the tools and equipment unique to open hearth cooking. She cautioned them that she and they must be aware of the dangers of working around an open fire, as were the colonial men and women who relied on open hearth cooking to prepare meals every day. “There is a big bucket of water right next to the hearth, in case we need it to put out a fire,” she pointed out.

“S” hooks of various sizes were used to suspend the cast iron pots nearer or further from the fire as needed when cooking, said Ms Graves. Other pots and pans were heated by placing them in or near the hot coals of the burning wood. For baking, colonists used a beehive oven, which was recessed deeply into the side of the hearth and fired by wood.

While the desserts baked, the students enjoyed a lunch of hot, hearth-cooked soup and bread with butter the children made themselves.

A tour of the historic home followed lunch, and at last, dessert was served.

“I liked making the butter,” said Willem Sandercox, when the class was over. “You take the cream and put it in a tub and shake it. If you shake it really long, it turns into butter. If you shake it a little less, you get whipped cream. It was fun.”