The cabin of the samll farmer was not sufficiently large to contrain much furniture, nor were there servants to care for it, so the family possessed only a few useful pieces. A chest, a table, a few beds and a stool or two completed the furnishings. Working with his nearest neighbor who owen an adz or crosscut saw, the pioneer felled a walnut or poplar tree and laboriously sawed it into planks. Put together with wooden pegs or notched to fit at the corners, in the place of scarce nails, these planks made a crude but serviceable piece of furniture. As soon as the region became more settled, some industrious person usually built a dam and set up a saw mill driven by water power. The inside of these homes, though not well-equipped was fairly comfortable. the fire place was about four or five foot wide and six feet high. When there were two rooms, one was used for a kitchen and served the double purpose of being a sitting room as well. The floor was sanded and from the rafters overhead hung strings of red peppers, ears of corn and bags of feathers. It was here the household industries were carried on - - churning, spinning, weaving, candle-making, and soap-making. Plates, bowls and spoons were usually made of pewter, except in some instances when they were carved from wood. The travelling pewter oulder with his spoon and dish moulds, did his work in the kitchen, living with the family until his job was accomplished and then going on to the next family desirous of his services. It was not until more room were added to the house that the kitchen became a separate building. An excellent description of these days can be found in records of the Moravians who settled in a colony called Bethabara, near the present city of Winston-Salem. In the year 1759, a moravian woman wrote: "From the beginning our craftsmen had frunished the most necessary articles, shoes, flour, pottery, buckskin breeches, and the like, but such things as salt, glass for window panes, sugar, coffee and spices must be brought from the outside. Apart from occasional shipments from Bethlehem (the Moravian colony in Pennsylvania) we been dependent on what could be secured from Springhill, a storehouse which had been built on Cape Fear River, (later to become Fayetteville), to which flat-bottomed boats brought some supplies from the harbor at Brunswick. To springhill our wagons took flour, and brought back salt and whatever else could be found there . . .Many deer-skins were . . .brought to Bethabara to be bartered for good at our store . . .It was decided to send deerskins to Charleston, to be exchanged for molasses, wine, hardware, glass . . ." Springhill, Charleston, and Petersburg also became the trading places for those who settled in Alamance County. Ref: Centennial History of Alamance County, by Whitaker ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange GENDEX at http://www.gendex.com/gendex/ has over 1400 databases on line