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78 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
"tobacco houses" (of which every extensive plantation required several),
were constructed on this plan. The favorite style of building of the stout
Germans and Palatines of Frederick County and Western Maryland contemplated a house that was seldom more than one story high, but had large
garret rooms and a deep cellar, generally well filled. The chimney, an
immense stack, was in the middle of the building, to accommodate the
kitchen, which was also the living-room, and had a great fire-place furnished
with pot-hooks, and cranes of massive construction. There was often a
"stove room" on the opposite side of the chimney, and in this case, this
became the living-room and was equipped with a long pine table and permanent benches on each side of it. The bed-rooms in these houses were not
very elaborately furnished. The painted bedsteads were supplied with
straw beds and " feather decks" for covering. But the house-keeping
was always neat and clean and the larder liberally supplied. The " Dutch "
house-wife wore a short gown and petticoat and concealed her flaxen
locks beneath a calico cap of most unprepossessing shape; she milked .
her own cows, and often worked a field in busy seasons, but, at the
same time, she made the best bread in the world; the barrel of sauerkraut and the other barrel of apple-butter in the cellar never seemed to
grow less, though called upon four or five times a day; her butter was rich
and golden all the year round, and her curds, her "schmierkas" and her cheese
were all enticing. Every such farm had its abundant apple orchard and its
rows of cherry trees, and there were plenty of home-brewed drinks in the
cellar besides cider.
In the wilderness proper, the "backwoods" in reality, the log cabin was
still further modified to suit the exigencies of a rude people and became what
was called a " half-faced camp," a cabin inclosed only on three sides, the
front, protected from storms by a sort of veranda, left open in lieu of windows.
This was the hunter's cabin, generally swarming with children, its walls hung
with peltries, and a cheerful wassail kept up all the time with "hog and
hominy," deer's meat and bear's, johnny-cake and pone, mush and milk and
cider—where it could be had. One great advantage in the construction
of this, and the more elaborate sort of log house was the fact that no
scientific joiner's work was required in their erection. As soon as the
logs were got together and hewed, the neighbors were notified that there
was to be a " house-raising." • They assembled at the appointed time, the
house was put together in a few minutes, and then there was a pot-pie for all,
with cider, and, very likely, something stronger. In this way each man was
enabled to have his own house in the shortest possible space of time, and
without needing to wait for skilled labor, at rates of wages impossible for him
to pay, in places where nails were almost worth their weight in gold, and a
jack-plane was a fortune to an entire settlement—where furs and pelts were
the only certain currency, and a bushel of salt would buy a cow and calf.1
1 Cf. Kercheval's History of the Valley of Virginia.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000103 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 78 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. "tobacco houses" (of which every extensive plantation required several), were constructed on this plan. The favorite style of building of the stout Germans and Palatines of Frederick County and Western Maryland contemplated a house that was seldom more than one story high, but had large garret rooms and a deep cellar, generally well filled. The chimney, an immense stack, was in the middle of the building, to accommodate the kitchen, which was also the living-room, and had a great fire-place furnished with pot-hooks, and cranes of massive construction. There was often a "stove room" on the opposite side of the chimney, and in this case, this became the living-room and was equipped with a long pine table and permanent benches on each side of it. The bed-rooms in these houses were not very elaborately furnished. The painted bedsteads were supplied with straw beds and " feather decks" for covering. But the house-keeping was always neat and clean and the larder liberally supplied. The " Dutch " house-wife wore a short gown and petticoat and concealed her flaxen locks beneath a calico cap of most unprepossessing shape; she milked . her own cows, and often worked a field in busy seasons, but, at the same time, she made the best bread in the world; the barrel of sauerkraut and the other barrel of apple-butter in the cellar never seemed to grow less, though called upon four or five times a day; her butter was rich and golden all the year round, and her curds, her "schmierkas" and her cheese were all enticing. Every such farm had its abundant apple orchard and its rows of cherry trees, and there were plenty of home-brewed drinks in the cellar besides cider. In the wilderness proper, the "backwoods" in reality, the log cabin was still further modified to suit the exigencies of a rude people and became what was called a " half-faced camp," a cabin inclosed only on three sides, the front, protected from storms by a sort of veranda, left open in lieu of windows. This was the hunter's cabin, generally swarming with children, its walls hung with peltries, and a cheerful wassail kept up all the time with "hog and hominy," deer's meat and bear's, johnny-cake and pone, mush and milk and cider—where it could be had. One great advantage in the construction of this, and the more elaborate sort of log house was the fact that no scientific joiner's work was required in their erection. As soon as the logs were got together and hewed, the neighbors were notified that there was to be a " house-raising." • They assembled at the appointed time, the house was put together in a few minutes, and then there was a pot-pie for all, with cider, and, very likely, something stronger. In this way each man was enabled to have his own house in the shortest possible space of time, and without needing to wait for skilled labor, at rates of wages impossible for him to pay, in places where nails were almost worth their weight in gold, and a jack-plane was a fortune to an entire settlement—where furs and pelts were the only certain currency, and a bushel of salt would buy a cow and calf.1 1 Cf. Kercheval's History of the Valley of Virginia. |
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