Welcome To Pilgrims and Pioneers!

After many years of researching my family geneaology I have been lucky enough to discover actual information about my relatives that lived in the Pilgrim Era and the Pioneer Era- while many people also have realtives from those eras- many do not know their names or where they lived- actually seeing the proof in print makes you much more aware of who they really were.
After discovering these relatives it of course made me curious to learn more about the eras that they lived in and what their lives were like as, the history I learned in grade school had long since been forgotten.
I decided to start this blog for others who are also interested in these eras.
Some of the information here will be actual facts about my realtives and some will be information about the eras in general that I have found on the web.
I hope you will enjoy traveling back in time with me!

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Pilgrim & Pioneer Fireplace

For the Pilgrims & Pioneers the fireplace was a means to heat the home and to do the cooking.
If there was not enough wood to make a fire then twisted straw or cornstalks were burned.Even buffalo chips and cow chips were gathered and used for fuel.
Iron stands( andirons) were used to hold the burning logs and a long metal rod held cooking pots.
Ashes were scooped out of the fireplace with a shovel and saved for soapmaking.
A bucket of water was kept near the fireplace in case a fire needed to be put out.
A dutch oven in those days was made from cast iron that had legs on the bottom of the pot and a lid. The pot was set on the hot coals inside the fireplace. Sometimes hot coals were placed on the lid of the pot. Many things were cooked inside the dutch ovens- breads, puddings, meat, cakes, stews and casseroles.
In those days families would sit by the fire in the evenings. Home made rugs were placed on the floor in front of the fireplace for added warmth. Men & boys usually carved wood items on front of the fire while women & girls knitted or did other types of needlework.

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