Life on a Davidson County Farm 100 Years Ago
I found this very informative article written about daily farm life one hundred years ago from the area I live in... Thought you all might be interested too!
"The farmer who bought a farm or inherited a farm was careful as he went about selecting a site for his home—to—be. It had to be a place that was well—drained, among trees, usually near a spring or stream of water. Often it was on a conspicuous knoll, overlooking the fields, meadows, and woodlands where the farmer and his family would carve out a way of life. The materials for the building came mostly from the acres of woods, and from the red clay of Piedmont, North Carolina. The brick for two or three large chimneys were made right there on the place, unless the builder chose to use stone (native) for foundations and chimneys. Neighbors, friends, relatives came to help with the hard tasks of building. These people swapped work. Building anything was often an excuse for social gatherings, too.
"As to the house, there was more or less a typical plan for these old-timers. The main part of the house had two large rooms downstairs and two large rooms upstairs. Two halls, one above and one below, separated the rooms and ran from front to back. Stairs, some of them decorative while others plain, ascended from the lower hail to the upper. Built to the back of this main part was an ell of at least two rooms——the dining room and the kitchen. If the family was unusually large or the farmer either affluent or pretentious, there would be two bedrooms upstairs in the ell, over the dining room and kitchen..."
Click here for the rest of the article.
"The farmer who bought a farm or inherited a farm was careful as he went about selecting a site for his home—to—be. It had to be a place that was well—drained, among trees, usually near a spring or stream of water. Often it was on a conspicuous knoll, overlooking the fields, meadows, and woodlands where the farmer and his family would carve out a way of life. The materials for the building came mostly from the acres of woods, and from the red clay of Piedmont, North Carolina. The brick for two or three large chimneys were made right there on the place, unless the builder chose to use stone (native) for foundations and chimneys. Neighbors, friends, relatives came to help with the hard tasks of building. These people swapped work. Building anything was often an excuse for social gatherings, too.
"As to the house, there was more or less a typical plan for these old-timers. The main part of the house had two large rooms downstairs and two large rooms upstairs. Two halls, one above and one below, separated the rooms and ran from front to back. Stairs, some of them decorative while others plain, ascended from the lower hail to the upper. Built to the back of this main part was an ell of at least two rooms——the dining room and the kitchen. If the family was unusually large or the farmer either affluent or pretentious, there would be two bedrooms upstairs in the ell, over the dining room and kitchen..."
Click here for the rest of the article.
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