by gwffoundation | Jun 8, 2022 | Daily Life in the 1700s, Lives & Legacies, Washington family
Ask someone to list traditional summertime activities, and they will probably mention picnics, family reunions, beach vacations, mountain getaways, and baseball games. Their list is likely to include going to the fair as well. The fair as a summer pastime is a...
by gwffoundation | Jul 31, 2019 | Daily Life in the 1700s, Fashion in History, Lives & Legacies
Editor’s Note: Looking back in time, people’s personal hygiene, fashion choices, medical treatments, and more sometimes look, at the very least, bizarre, if not outright disgusting. When confronted with these weird or gross practices, our first reaction can be to...
by gwffoundation | Jun 19, 2019 | George Washington, Lewis Family, Lives & Legacies, Washington family
Despite issues of poor roads, lack of transportation, financial considerations and simply an absence of places to go, colonial Virginians fancied a summer vacation just as much as we do today. In fact, getting out of the city, or away from hot, steamy climates and...
by gwffoundation | Sep 6, 2017 | Daily Life in the 1700s, Lives & Legacies
In this video, we make switchel, a summertime beverage popular in the 1700s. Its ingredients contain a lot of potassium which replenishes the body’s electrolytes. Learn more about switchel and other methods used to say cool in the 18th century on this blog post....
by gwffoundation | Aug 31, 2017 | Daily Life in the 1700s, Lives & Legacies
“You must be hot in that. I don’t know how colonial people wore such things.” “I am a little hot, yes. It is hot out today. Aren’t you hot in what you’re wearing? “I’m sweating buckets.” “That’s funny, because I’m not.” I have a variation of this conversation every...
