News
‘Chilly Willy’ tours wrap up Bronck season
By Melanie Lekocevic
COXSACKIE — Imagine an era when alcohol was the preferred drink for children rather than milk? Or a culture where virtually no home was heated overnight, even in the dead of winter? Or how about a time when simply drinking from a cup could give you lead poisoning? Those were just some of the many challenges faced by early settlers on the American countryside.
That was the focus of the weekend’s ‘Chilly Willy’ tours, which each November wrap up the season at the Bronck Museum. Every year the tour gives visitors the chance to see what life was like in the 1600s, when the house was first built and there was little, if any, home heating available.
And that wasn’t the only thing they didn’t have. Fresh food was also in short supply, and no one turned away a moldy slice of bread. People stored food to get through the winter, but when crops were sparse, times could get dicey.
“There were years when things didn’t go so well, and people knew it would be difficult to find food,” said Bronck Museum Site Manager Shelby Mattice.
Food wasn’t the only problem — storing it also posed a challenge. With no refrigeration, keeping food edible was no easy task, and just because a piece of fruit was a little rotten didn’t make it a toss-away. In fact, little was ever tossed in the trash — you made do with what you had.
Even utensils, plates and cups were a challenge. With soap in short supply, washing plates and forks was optional, according to Mattice, which drew a gasp from tour visitors. Even the finer drinking cups, made of pewter, gave most people of the era lead poisoning.
Other food-born diseases, like salmonella and food poisoning, were rampant in colonial times, and most food was at least partially eaten by the rodents that infested virtually all homes. Bread nibbled on by a rat? Beggars can’t be choosers, so dig in.
Do you encourage your children to drink a cold glass of milk with dinner? Early Americans wouldn’t even dream of it — in fact, milk didn’t become fully safe until the 1950s, when refrigeration and preservation techniques were perfected. Back in the 1600s, forget about it.
“In most of early America there were only two safe beverages — anything made with boiling water, like coffee or tea, but those were too expensive for everyday use, and alcoholic beverages, which everyone from the oldest to the youngest drank,” Mattice said. “The alcohol at least gave them a fighting chance against the endless rounds of food poisoning people were exposed to every day.”
Without electricity, lighting posed another everyday challenge. If you’ve got in mind a Hollywood image of an early settler walking around their house carrying a candle, forget it. Fire was such a deadly threat in those days — what with wooden homes, and floors filled with sawdust and wood chips — once a candle was lit it was generally never moved.
That’s if you could afford candles at all. Today’s candles are made of wax, which is a petroleum-based product. Back then, though, candles were made of animal fat, and with every bit of meat being used for food, there was little left over to make candles.
Another Hollywood myth is the image of early settlers carrying guns and hunting for food. In the years before the Revolutionary War, few people could afford a gun, and usually the only ones who did were military men. Everyone — men, women and children — carried knives at all times for personal protection. And as for hunting, most meat the European settlers ate came through trade with Native Americans. But one thing they were good at was fishing.
“The Dutch were excellent fisherpeople,” Mattice said. “They made great use of the rivers and streams. Hunting and trapping were skills they had yet to learn in those early days.”
After a hard day the settlers went to bed in the winter in ice-cold homes. Virtually no house was heated at night and bed chambers were never heated. People slept in the same clothes they wore during the day, and packed as many people into one bed as possible to make use of body heat.
Life for early Americans was a daily struggle, from food to drink to heat in the winter. Just think of that the next time you grumble about the long checkout lines at the supermarket.
That was the focus of the weekend’s ‘Chilly Willy’ tours, which each November wrap up the season at the Bronck Museum. Every year the tour gives visitors the chance to see what life was like in the 1600s, when the house was first built and there was little, if any, home heating available.
And that wasn’t the only thing they didn’t have. Fresh food was also in short supply, and no one turned away a moldy slice of bread. People stored food to get through the winter, but when crops were sparse, times could get dicey.
“There were years when things didn’t go so well, and people knew it would be difficult to find food,” said Bronck Museum Site Manager Shelby Mattice.
Food wasn’t the only problem — storing it also posed a challenge. With no refrigeration, keeping food edible was no easy task, and just because a piece of fruit was a little rotten didn’t make it a toss-away. In fact, little was ever tossed in the trash — you made do with what you had.
Even utensils, plates and cups were a challenge. With soap in short supply, washing plates and forks was optional, according to Mattice, which drew a gasp from tour visitors. Even the finer drinking cups, made of pewter, gave most people of the era lead poisoning.
Other food-born diseases, like salmonella and food poisoning, were rampant in colonial times, and most food was at least partially eaten by the rodents that infested virtually all homes. Bread nibbled on by a rat? Beggars can’t be choosers, so dig in.
Do you encourage your children to drink a cold glass of milk with dinner? Early Americans wouldn’t even dream of it — in fact, milk didn’t become fully safe until the 1950s, when refrigeration and preservation techniques were perfected. Back in the 1600s, forget about it.
“In most of early America there were only two safe beverages — anything made with boiling water, like coffee or tea, but those were too expensive for everyday use, and alcoholic beverages, which everyone from the oldest to the youngest drank,” Mattice said. “The alcohol at least gave them a fighting chance against the endless rounds of food poisoning people were exposed to every day.”
Without electricity, lighting posed another everyday challenge. If you’ve got in mind a Hollywood image of an early settler walking around their house carrying a candle, forget it. Fire was such a deadly threat in those days — what with wooden homes, and floors filled with sawdust and wood chips — once a candle was lit it was generally never moved.
That’s if you could afford candles at all. Today’s candles are made of wax, which is a petroleum-based product. Back then, though, candles were made of animal fat, and with every bit of meat being used for food, there was little left over to make candles.
Another Hollywood myth is the image of early settlers carrying guns and hunting for food. In the years before the Revolutionary War, few people could afford a gun, and usually the only ones who did were military men. Everyone — men, women and children — carried knives at all times for personal protection. And as for hunting, most meat the European settlers ate came through trade with Native Americans. But one thing they were good at was fishing.
“The Dutch were excellent fisherpeople,” Mattice said. “They made great use of the rivers and streams. Hunting and trapping were skills they had yet to learn in those early days.”
After a hard day the settlers went to bed in the winter in ice-cold homes. Virtually no house was heated at night and bed chambers were never heated. People slept in the same clothes they wore during the day, and packed as many people into one bed as possible to make use of body heat.
Life for early Americans was a daily struggle, from food to drink to heat in the winter. Just think of that the next time you grumble about the long checkout lines at the supermarket.
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