THE summer of 1740 was cool and wet. An early frost injured much of the corn crop, and the long season of rain which followed hindered its ripening. One-third of it was cut when green, and the rest was so wet that it very soon molded. There was, therefore, very little seed cor in New England for the next spring's planting, and the amount of dry corn for the winter's consumption was also small. The rain of the summer and fall flooded the lowlands of the country everywhere.

East Berlin, Pennsylvania held their Annual Christmas House Tour on December 12, 2010. A little bit of rain did not dampen the holiday spirits of the people who paid $12 to tour the homes, church, and buildings owned by the East Berlin Historical Preservation Society. East Berlin has its share of colonial home open to the public along with a Victorian Bed and Breakfast.

Colonial Sense would like to share another yearly Christmas House Tour in one of the nation's oldest parks, Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We visited the Park on December 10, 2010. The mansion tours were begun 38 years ago with the help of V. Elizabeth Person who recently died.

On Saturday, December the 4th 2010, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site held its annual Iron Plantation Christmas. Today the furnace was quiet prior to the Christmas Holidays. However, during Christmas when the furnace was operating in the nineteenth century, Christmas was just another work day. Hopewell Village was a small self-sustaining village in colonial times which was built around a cold-blast, charcoal-burning iron furnace. The community life was in some respects similar to that of the small feudal manors of medieval Europe and was largely self-sustaining. Little had changed of the village from colonial times up through most of the nineteenth century.

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.

On December 4, 2010, The Peter Wentz Farmstead in Worcester, Pennsylvania will be holding their Candlelight Tour of the colonial home. The path to the home will be lit with soft glow candlelights. The Farmstead will be showcasing period music and seasonal decorations.

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.

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.

Cotton Mather thought that New England suffered as much as any other portion of the world from lightning, or, as he termed it, thunder, it being in his day generally supposed that thunder and not lightning caused the damage. Lightning had struck buildings, trees, animals and people from the time of the earliest settlement, but it does not appear to have caused very much damage in any one season until 1768. The scattered buildings and people had but slight chance of being injured by lightning on account of their small number and wide separation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

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...

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

New article at Colonial Sense on the upcoming Historic New England homes tour.