Part of the reason people traveled to the “New World” was to make a better life for themselves. England was a tough place to live. It was over populated, sanitation was a huge problem and much of their resources were depleted.
Plantations in Virginia took advantage of all of the open space and clean water. We visited the re-created Great Hopes Plantation just outside of Williamsburg. Most Virginians lived in the rural country side and their lives were centered around agriculture and raising live stock.
Here is John’s dream home. He was going to building me one, back when we thought we were going to settle down in Colorado. Cute huh? Think I’ll stick with the RV.
Tobacco was the most important crop grown as it generated the money need to support the farm and its inhabitants. In addition to that crop, each farm had two vegetable gardens, one for the family and one for the slaves.
We saw the farmer in the field prepping the ground for planting. He was more than happy to take a break and talk to us.
When asked how long it took him to plow a field of that size he told us about 4 hours. The ox gave me a look that said “Don’t you mean how long it takes US?” That was our cue to move on.
We walked into town from the plantation following a serene footpath. Perfect for taking a couple of selfies!
Around town were all kinds of barrels, most hiding trash cans or collecting rain water.
It was implied that all of the stuff we saw in the town, was produced by town tradesmen, Therefore it stood to reason there should be a Cooper somewhere. Off to find him we were!
He was working on a barrel and demonstrated some of his tools for us and walked us through how to make a barrel. (The big barrel in the back is for somewhere in town.)
The question was raised “How do you get the groove in the barrel that the top and bottom fit into?” Using a croze cutter of course. The cooper keeps turning this around the barrel and it chips away at the wood until he has a groove.
The colonist could not bring everything they needed and there wasn’t a Sears store for them to order a house kit from so they needed to make much of what they needed. In town many structures were made from bricks not strictly from wood. Where did all of the bricks come from? The Brick Yard of course.
When we arrived there were several children churning dirt and water into the clay used to make the bricks. Normally this job is done by adults who are heavier and sink to the bottom getting a better mix.
After the clay is mixed it is put into models.
The molds hold two bricks and children carry these out to the drying fields.
In the fall when it is too cold for the bricks to dry properly, those that have been dried are piled and fires are built under them to finish the firing process.
Bricks closest to the fire are the darkest red and those that are light tan to pink were far away from the fire.
The Brick Yard master would employ slaves to process the bricks as this was a non-skilled labor job.
Ok, so now you have your house of bricks built and the big bad wolf can’t get you. Now we need some cabinetry to hold our dishes. Where could that cabinet maker be?
