Today, we can go to the store and buy milk, eggs, flour, and bread from the supermarket, go to the mall and buy clothes, then return home and turn on our televisions for entertainment. Imagine what life would be like without electricity, paved roads, supermarkets, or running water, and you have an idea of what life was like in colonial America. Life in the American colonies was very different from life today. Food was grown by hand, clothes were homemade from local materials, and free time was few and far between.
• Daily Life in 17th Century Plymouth
• Colonial Life
• Daily Life in the Colonies
• Leisure Activities in the Colonial Era
American colonial life revolved around chores, and everyone had to do their part. The typical colonial family
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Poor, rocky soil combined with long, harsh winters that reduced the growing season made farming difficult in New England. Most northern farmers grew crops on small family plots, relying on crops such as maize, beans, and squash to sustain their families, with only a small portion going to markets for credit or currency. To stretch their food stores colonists in New England hunted, raised livestock, fished, and gathered fruits and nuts.
• Farming in the Thirteen American Colonies
• Growing Food in New England
• Jared Eliot Calls on Colonists to Change their Agricultural Practices
In contrast, settlers in the middle colonies of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey had less difficulty farming due to better soil and moderate climates. These conditions allowed them to plant more than one crop per growing season. In addition to the maize grown in the northern colonies, the middle colonies grew grain crops such as rye, barley, oats, and wheat in quantities large enough to both support families and be sold at market. Flour made from grains grown in the middle colonies was traded throughout the colonies and shipped back to England. Collectively, the middle colonies became known as the ‘bread basket’ of early