Hmmm…I wonder

what there is to do here?

“The government of the United

States is not, in any sense,

founded on the Christian religion.”

-G. Washington

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browse the exhibits!

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1 Famous Colonial Americans

2 Colonial Fashions

3 A Day in a Child’s Life

4 Medicine in Colonial America

5 Places and their People

6 Cooking and Foods

Men Women

These people are wearing their Sunday best clothing. Their suits and dresses are sewn from silk, brocade and lace. The accents on the men’s coats are done by embroidering with shiny thread. In this picture, only the men are wearing wigs but often women wore them as well.

Click on the dressing rooms below to see more fashions.

Colonial Fashions

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Men’s shirts were puffy and loose fitting. Sometimes there were ruffles at the neck and cuffs. Waistcoats were worn over the shirts. A waistcoat is a long vest with buttons. A popular hat was the tricorne, which had 3 corners.

Colonial Men’s Fashions

Men’s suit coats reached their knees. They had big cuffs at the end of the sleeves. With their tops, men wore pants called breeches. They wore long stockings instead of socks.

On their feet, men wore boots or shoes. Both shoes were just the same. There were no left and right shoes!

A young Ben Franklin in suit coat, breeches, boots and tricorne hat.

Hats were worn everyday. Some were small, some were large. They were made from wool felt which was made from beaver fur.

Colonial Women’s Fashions

The clothing worn by colonial women was beautiful but not very practical. Dresses were long. There were lots of petticoats underneath. Women who worked around the home wore simpler dresses. These were made of wool, linen or cotton. Aprons protected their dresses. Common people only had two sets of clothing. One for weekdays and one for Sundays.

This dress has a low neckline. Its sleeves go to the elbow and have frills on them. The bodice is tight. It is stiffed with whalebone and open in the front. Under it is an embroidered stomacher. A petticoat is worn underneath. The dress is open in front so it can be seen. Pocket hoops are worn under the skirt. Also worn is a farthingale.

Rich women wore clothes made of silk or brocade. Lace ruffles might peek out at the neck and sleeves. It was fashionable to have small waists. To make this happen, women wore corsets called stays. The stays would be laced so tightly that women could hardly breath.

Women wore cloaks with hoods to keep them warm. Cloaks also protected their dresses and wigs. They kept their hands warm inside fur muffs

Pockets were not attached to clothes. Instead a separate piece of clothing was made and gathered around a hoop. It was worn around the waist. Pockets were reached through slits in the skirt!

Farthingales made women’s waist look thin when compared to the size of their skirts. It also helped make their stomachs appear even flatter.

Stomachers were very stiff. They kept the chest, or bodice of the dress smooth. A new stomacher could give an old dress a whole new look.

Stomachers also helped with posture. It was hard to slouch with a stomacher in place!

This popular colonial dress style was called a sack dress. It was named for its back panel which is what you see here. The pleated fabric hung free from the shoulders – just like a sack.

The woman also looks like she has very wide hips. This was considered a pretty thing. To get this look, she wore what were called false hips.

These false hips were constructed using hoops. They were then tied around women’s hips. It made their skirts look fashionably full. Their skits fell over the false hips rather than sticking out from petticoats.

These shoes were made from silk. They were beautiful but

very uncomfortable. They had no arch support. Walking

any distance in them was painful.

Women wore clogs over their shows to protect the shoes from getting muddy on dirt roads.

Both women and men wore wigs. There were over 100 styles of wigs in colonial times. A good wig could cost as much as feeding and housing a servant for one whole year. People paid a yearly fee to have their heads shaved and their wigs powdered, curled, and combed regularly

A calash was like the top of a convertible car. It was collapsible. It protected wigs on people from wind and rain.

Benjamin Franklin: A Leading Colonial Scientist

Civic Leader Scientist

Benjamin Franklin

James Madison Thomas Jefferson

George Washington

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Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous people in colonial America. He was not only a scientist but he also printed a newspaper, wrote books, and helped to write the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. At age 12, he became an apprentice and learned to use a printing press. Later he started a newspaper in Philadelphia.

In 1743, he formed the American Philosophical Society to discuss useful ways to help Philadelphia. They talked about things like having lights along the streets or a paid police force. Franklin also founded the Philadelphia Academy to train people in the arts and the science.

From 1748 to 1790, Franklin was a politician. He helped to lead the colonies to independence in the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin was interested in how science could improve life. He worked out a way to create electricity. However he left it for others to discover how to use it to provide heat or light.

Franklin is said to have once flown a kite during a storm. In the story, he tied an iron key to the string. The key gathered electricity form the clouds. This told him that lightning must be a kind of electricity that built up in clouds during a storm.

Franklin invent the lightning rod. This stopped wood buildings like barns from being set on fire. The rod carried the electricity straight to the ground.

Among his other inventions was an iron stove that created more heat than an open fireplace or fire. He also invented bifocals, eyeglasses that helped people with poor eyesight to see better. He invented a device that could measure how far a carriage had traveled. He also found a way to make ships more watertight and safer.

These people are using a machine based on Franklin’s inventions about electricity. People thought it was fun to create small electric shocks!

THE COLONIA

L COOKBO

OK

NEW!

ON SALE!

JUST PUBLISHED!

$29.95

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Remember:

Haste Makes Waste!

Hasty Pudding

4 c. milk

1 c. cornmeal

½ c. maple syrup

Bring milk to a low boil over medium heat. Add the cornmeal to the milk, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Lower heat. Add maple syrup to cornmeal mixture. Return pan to lowered heat. Cook for 15 minutes and stir occasionally.

Pour into a buttered mold. Cover with cloth and bind. Set in boiling water bath for 2 ½ hours.

Turn out and enjoy with butter and milk.

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Native American Medicine

Diseases in Communities

Medical Practices

Medical Supplies

Inside an Apothecary’s

Shop

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Colonial America: People and Places

TheColony

TheCornfield

TheStreet

TheHouse

of the

Governor

The MeetingHouse

TheTobacc

oField

TheChurch

The College

The Post

Office

The Harb

or

TheFort

TheHuntin

gGroun

d

The Colony

The Cornfield

The Street

TheHouse of the Govern

or

The MeetingHouse

TheTobacc

oField

TheChurch

The College

The Post

Office

The Harbor

TheFort

TheHuntin

gGroun

dClick on the squares to find out more about the people and places in the neighborhood of colonial America.

Benjamin Franklin: A Leading Colonial Scientist

Civic Leader Scientist