friday's frontier fact

Welcome to Lael's Kentucky cabin. This is how I pictured her homeplace when I wrote the novel. I like all the historic details shown here. The hand-hewn hutch and pewter dishes. The woven baskets. The huge hearth that you can't really see - you just have to imagine. There would be a bed in the corner with a cornhusk tick and quilt and a little key to tighten the rope springs. Hence the old saying, sleep tight but don't let the bed bugs bite. And then above would be a loft.

But as cozy as this cabin looks, it was in fact quite uncomfortable. Austere in the extreme. Cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Dark. Few people could afford glass windows and they were very difficult to transport, thus oiled paper and wooden shutters sufficed if you had windows at all. Many didn't because of the danger. Indians were good at climbing in openings and so settlers opted for safety over light and fresh air. Loopholes just large enough to ram a rifle barrel through were good enough.

Often furniture had multi-purposes. See the table? It folded due to cabins being cramped. Sixteen by twenty feet was the standard cabin size. Simplicity reigned on the frontier, at least in 1777 Kentucky. Those big houses with the cavernous front porches came much later. Floors were mostly dirt at first, then puncheon logs. Folks had no use for frew-frew-raw, as one frontiersman called extravagances. They were simply concerned with staying alive.

How far we have fallen! Wonder what old Boone would think of central air and flushable toilets and microwaved meals? Personally I think he'd run for the hills as fast as his arthritic legs could carry him:) I hardly blame him.

Happy Friday!