Cover
Story
Anything But Palatial
SPINNERS AND WEAVERS AND COOKS, OH MY. EVEN AT A REGAL RESIDENCE, LIFE COULD BE A CHORE.
Schoolchildren visiting the Tryon Palace Kitchen get to experience crafts such as weav¬
ing that were an everyday part of 18th century life.
By Priscilla Speed Hunter
hores - the bane of childhood,
beta noire of husbands and
wives, staple of farm life - are
things you have to do before you can
have fun.
At home, that is. Visitors to Tryon
Palace I listoric Sites & Gardens, on
the other hand, find that everyday
household chores are part of the fun of
learning about life in centuries past.
Craftspeople working in the Palace
Kitchen and character interpreters in
the Robert Hay House all demonstrate
common domestic skills from the 18th
and 19th centuries as part of their mis¬
sion to teach visitors about North
Carolina’s roots. Although some
chores have disappeared or changed
beyond recognition, others are
unchanged from Colonial times. A
visit to the Palace Kitchen in the fall
of 2002, for instance, makes it clear
that sweeping is sweeping no matter
what the century.
“Our goal is to educate the public
about 18th- and 19th-century ways of
life, t<i provide hands-on learning
opportunities, and to introduce the
lifestyles of the servant and working-
class people in historic New Bern,”
says Curator of Interpretation Sara
Kirtland Spalding.
And that means doing chores.
A visitor to the Palace Kitchen
today might see hearth cooking, spin¬
ning, weaving, clothes laundering, or
doll making - even though 18th-cen¬
tury servants working in Tryon Palace’s
Kitchen Office would not have done
some of those crafts in that building.
Textiles would have been impo ted
Iron» Europe for the Tryons’ clothing.
Spinning to make cloth for the ser¬
vants’ and slaves’ attire might have
been done on a farm Gov. Tryon
owned just outside of town. Weaving
probably was done by itinerant trades¬
men with large looms that could be
disassembled for travel.
“Some of the crafts we demonstrate
here were very much a part of 18th-
century life,” says Spalding. “They
were chores you couldn’t get away
from like cooking, ironing, chopping
wood, laundry, and mending. We also
demonstrate some crafts so that our
visitors can experience them, even
though they might actually have been
done elsewhere."
The elite took up only those crafts
and activities that appealed to them,
Spalding explains, because their ser¬
vants and slaves took care of the
necessities of living. We know that
Mrs. Tryon enjoyed writing and may
have embroidered or done other
needlework.
"In middle-class households, ladies
might relax for an hour or so in the
afternoon by quilting or embroider¬
ing," says Spalding. “Poor and working
class families had little leisure rime.
Everything they did went toward keep¬
ing body and soul together."
♦
hirley Willis is Tryon Palace’s
domestic skills program manager
and “Governor Tryon ’s cook.”
Willis has been involved with the
study and practice of historical culi¬
nary arts at Tryon Palace Historic Sites
&. Gardens for almost 20 years.
“1 have always enjoyed cooking.
And 1 enjoyed history even more than
cooking,” Willis says. She jumped at
the chance to combine the two inter-
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Fall 2002
