The Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

A picture of some phases of life in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is presented in the following pages. It follows many of the every day happenings, the manners and customs of daily life. Few realize how modern are the furnishings and comforts of our present-day houses and how different was the home life of our ancestors. Chairs were unknown in ordinary English households until a generation or so before the sailing of the Mayflower. Hats were worn at meals and the use of table forks did not become general until the last of the 1600s. Food was placed in the mouth with the knife or the fingers. This is a collection of source materials, somewhat digested, rather than a comprehensive, well-balanced narrative of daily life in the Colony.
Contents:
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Voyage To Massachusetts
Their Early Shelters and Later Dwellings
How They Furnished Their Houses
Counterpanes and Coverlets
Concerning Their Apparel
Pewter in the Early Days
The Farmhouse and the Farmer
Manners and Customs
Sports and Games
Trades and Manufactures
Concerning Shipping and Trade
From Wampum To Paper Money
Herb Tea and the Doctor
Crimes and Punishments