School Children Step Out Of Time On Main Street

By Jan Howard

An outreach representative from the Connecticut Historical Society took some local children and their mothers on a trip back in time to colonial America during a Colonial Life Workshop November 10 at the Matthew Curtiss House/Museum on Main Street.

The program was sponsored by the Newtown Historical Society.

The one-hour, hands-on program introduced the children to everyday life in the 18th century. They were able to handle such items as a foot warmer, powder horn, hornbook, and tinderbox, among others. They also were able to try on garments similar to those worn by Colonial-era children.

Prior to the program, Historical Society member Sally Meffert set the stage by playing the role of a colonial-era woman, asking the children questions about the chores they would have performed in the 1700s and items that would have been used in the home.

“Who went out to the chicken coop to get eggs for mom this morning?” No one apparently.

“Were you milking the cow?” Ms Meffert asked.

“No!” the children chorused.

“Then where do you get your milk?” she queried.

“We buy it at the store,” the children replied.

“What’s a store?” Ms Meffert asked.

When asked if they cooked food in a fireplace, the children responded with a resounding “No!”

“Then how do you cook all your food?” Ms Meffert asked.

On a stove or in a microwave, the children answered.

“What?” Ms Meffert queried. “How do they work?”

With electricity, the children answered.

“What’s electricity?” Ms Meffert asked. “How does that work?”

With wires that come into the house, the children attempted to explain.

Judi Sitkin, coordinator of outreach programs for the Connecticut Historical Society, said the Matthew Curtiss house is a perfect setting for a program about the 1700s. “It’s a perfect environment to bring it to life.”

Ms Sitkin asked the children what they would put in a time capsule today to tell people of the future how we lived. Paper, pencils and pens, an oven, electrical appliances, underwear, a belt, leather boots, a computer and directions on how to use it, and a car were some of the suggestions.

Ms Sitkin explained about everyday life during the colonial era as children looked at pictures of a typical home and handled items that would have been used in that home, such as a porridge bowl and a tinder box and flint to start a fire.

She explained how candles were made from animal fat, called tallow, so they smelled like meat cooking. “A cat was not just a pet,” she said. It was needed to catch mice that were attracted by the candles. The candles, when not in use, were hung up high out of the reach of mice, she explained.

“How was a dog useful?” she asked as the children looked at the pictures. For protection, hunting, as a friend, and for herding were some answers.

Other animals useful to the colonists would have been horses, cows, and sheep, Ms Sitkin said, explaining that the colonists brought the cows and sheep with them when they came to America.

“Would you have liked to be on those ships?” she asked. “They were pretty crowded.”

The children were also shown a hornbook that a child would have used to learn the alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer, an inkwell and quill pen, a powder horn to keep powder for muskets dry, and a foot warmer for use in cold, drafty churches. Ms Sitkin demonstrated how the colonists used a tinderbox and flint to make a spark to start a fire.

She also demonstrated wool carding, one of the chores of colonial-era children. The children and parents then took turns cleaning a piece of wool with the carders.

The children were also able to try on colonial clothing. There were many buttons to button in those pre-zipper times. A girl’s long skirt was often one-size-fits-all so it could be used for several years. There were no pockets so women and girls wore a garment around their waists with “pockets” that could be inserted in slits on each side of their skirts.

The children were able to play with toys, such as spinning tops, similar to those played with by 18th century children.

Following the presentation, the children stepped back into the 21st century, with increased knowledge of what it was like to be a child in the 1700s in New England.