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In our first chapter we said that there was little evidence that rushlighting was ever used in Colonial America. The same cannot be said about Betty lamps. The name "Betty lamp" was often used for a type of lamp that included a crusie, Phoebe, or slut lamp. Colonial Sense will make distinction between the different types. The first lamps were brought over from England and Holland with the Pilgrims. Captain John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth Colony, brought with him a Dutch iron betty lamp purchased in Holland. The simplest form of lamp brought with the colonists was an iron saucer with one or two lips at the edge to hold a wick. The lamp had similar form to the Greek, Roman, and Assyrian versions. There was a need for lighting in the early days of our country. Edward Winslow, the second Governor of the Plymouth Colony, wrote a letter back to the prospective colonists in 1621 stating, "Bring paper and linseed oil for your windows, with cotton yarn for your lamps."

The Web Site for All Things Colonial -- All aspects of Colonial American history and early American antiques. Original articles on wide variety of aspects of early American life. Community includes nationwide event calendar, antique dealers and show promoters, downloads, online resources (links to other colonial-themed websites), early American recipes, marketplace, forums with book & film reviews & much more!

In Colonial America, pewter was a staple of everday living. A collection of polished pewter, used and proudly displayed, symbolized prosperity to the wives of the artisans and shopkeepers. The eighteenth-century housewife kept her pewter polished. The gentry ate from silver and imported china; the very poor made out with wooden trenchers and pottery mugs. This lasted about 1825, when the white ware of American potters invaded simple dining rooms and banished pewter to the kitchens...

The sale of the reward of merit fraktur at Pook and Pook completed by schoolmaster Johann Conrad Gilbert (1734-1812) who emigrated from Germany in 1757 and settled in Montgomery County Pennsylvania may have sparked an interest to our readers as to how the bunny or rabbit became an indelible symbol of Easter in colonial America. As it turns out so many times you must thank the Pennsylvania Dutch for this great contribution to our country. These are the German immigrants like Heinrich Gudehus who emigrated from Palatinate, Germany in the eighteenth century.

During Colonial times in Durham County, North Carolina, there was a plantation which extended from the east of the Flat River almost to West Point on the Eno, and from the vicinity of Bahama on the northwest past the Neuse River into Wake County on the southeast. The land covered 30,000 acres and more than 973 slaves worked the fertile land.

New article at Colonial Sense on, using advice and tips from the era, what to look for when you go to market.

New chapter added to "Journey to America," a journal by Heinrich Gudehus, published in 1828

New chapter added to "John Woolman's Journal," a diary kept by a traveller in America in the mid-1700s.

Journey back from Gettysburg. -Unusual night in Oxford. -Praiseworthy custom of sitting with the sick by neighbors. -Guarding of the dead at night. - Two German immigrants travel to Cincinnati. -Journey by way of Little York, -Seitsville, Susquehanna Bridge, -Columbia, -Mount Pleasant, -Lancaster. -Signs of the inns. -Long way in the dark. -Night quarters with Quakers. -Joumey over a high mountain. -Free accommodation by English planters. -Fertility of the mountain valleys. Journey in darkness through a thick forest. -Night quarters in a farmhouse. -Journey to Reading. -Many new German immigrants. -Journey to my home at the Moselem.

One of the most disastrous tornadoes or hurricanes that has ever been experienced in New England occurred in Massachusetts along the Merrimac river; Saturday, August 14, 1773. It commenced its havoc a few rods above Deer island, and took its course up the northern bank of the stream.

Over a hundred years ago, there were no TV sets, stereos, or video games, but there were always people around ready to play games. Families were often large - parents & several children, as well as an aunt, uncle, or a grandparent or two, all living under one roof, so there were always people around who might be talked into playing a game. Children also played games at school, in town, and at work parties.\n

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 20th century has been well recognized as "The Steel City." However, in the 1800's it became a prosperous region for glass manufacturing. Names like Stiegel, Wistar, and Amelung are important names in the early development of glassmaking. But changes to the new method of shaping glass articles made the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania one of the longest and most flourishing glass centers in the country. Glass collectors know that some of the rarest and finest examples of glassmaking come from the Pittsburgh, Monongahela and Ohio districts.

In all great fish-markets, great fish-mongers strictly examine the gills - if the bright redness is exchanged for a low brown, they are stale; but when live fish are brought flouncing into market, you have only to select the kind most agreeable to your palate and the season.

The 3rd Annual Market at Washingtonburg was held at the US Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on September 10-12 this year. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, various demonstrations were held to reflect the the period when the Carlisle Barracks was known as Washingtonburg during the Revolutionary War. The Carlisle Barracks was established during the French and Indian War. There were demonstrations of French and Indian War field tactics, the use of an 18th century forge, and Revolutionary War tactics.

Sarah Kemble Knight, a third-generation American, was born in Boston. She was the daughter of Thomas Kemble, a Boston merchant, reportedly an agent of Cromwell in selling prisoners of war and Elizabeth Trerice. Prior to 1689 she married Captain Richard Knight, a shipmaster and a widower considerably her senior. The only record of their marriage is a document stating Richard Knight's intention to marry her in 1688.

This is not a work of fiction, as the scarcity of old American manuscripts may induce some to imagine; but it is a faithful copy from a diary in the author's own handwriting, compiled soon after her return home, as it appears, from notes recorded daily, while on the road. She was a resident of Boston, and a lady of uncommon literary attainments, as well as of great taste and strength of mind. She was called Madam Knight, out of respect to her character, according to a custom once common in New-England; but what was her family name the publishers have not been able to discover.

Visit to the Families of Friends at Burlington. Journey to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Considerations on the State of Friends there, and the Exercise he was under in Travelling among those so generally concerned in keeping Slaves, with some Observations on this Subject. Epistle to Friends at New Garden and Crane Creek. Thoughts on the Neglect of a Religious Care in the Education of the Negroes.

10 Questions for Gregory LeFever (Contributing Editor to Early American Life magazine, prolific writer, banjo player)

The journal of Jasper Danckaerts may have gone undiscovered if not for the discovery by Henry C. Murphy, founder of the Long Island Historical Society, in 1864. Murphy was an excellent Dutch scholar who translated and published the original manuscript and presented his edition in 1867. Murphy found the original manuscript in an old book store in Amsterdam.

On the eighth of June, 1679, we left home2 at four o'clock in the morning, taking leave of those with whom God had joined us fast in spirit, they committing us, and we them, with tenderness of heart, unto the gracious protection of the Highest. Although for a time separated in body, we remained most closely united in soul, which is, always and everywhere, but one and the same. We went on foot to Oost[erend], expecting there to take the canal boat, which we did, at six or half past six o'clock, after waiting an hour. We took leave finally of those of our beloved and very worthy friends who had accompanied us, and thus far made it a pleasant journey for us. Our hearts had been strengthened in discoursing, on the road, of God and his will concerning us, and of the disposition and readiness of our hearts, as we then felt, to bear it whatever it might be, although we foresaw that it would be mortifying enough for us…

Update to 1600s travel journal