TRADE BLANKETS

French and English fur traders found an eager market for the wool blankets they offered Native Americans in exchange for pelts. Traded until the early 1900s, blankets are still being woven and valued for their beauty and warmth.

Winfield Ross

PROMISE FULFILLED

Tom and Margaret Newbern rescued a 1785 vernacular North Carolina home with surprisingly sophisticated interior finishes, moved it to Edenton, and restored it with a few hours to spare before opening it to visitors on the historic town’s biennial tour.

Reid Thomas

NEW EVIDENCE FROM OLD RECIPES

Manuscript cookbooks found in archives in the Hudson Valley record the foods the Dutch settlers brought with them to America. Anglicized in name and ingredients, the Dutch treats became favorites for English colonists—and us today.

Peter G. Rose

A REVOLUTIONARY AESTHETIC

Parker Lienhart combined his lifelong attraction to the Revolutionary War era with his skills as an art designer to remake a reproduction colonial house near Chicago, filling it with a mix of pristine antiques and modern comforts suitable for his young family.

Karla Klein Albertson

ADORNED FOR THE DEAD

Mourning customs brought over from Europe and adapted through the 18th and 19th Centuries helped the grieving in America cope with their loss and gave their peers clues for how to approach them.

J. Grahame Long

RECLAIMING WENTWORTH HOUSE

Residents in the small village of Rollinsford, New Hampshire, united to save the grand home Colonel Paul Wentworth built in 1704. Together they raised the funds to have the home dismantled, moved, rebuilt, and restored on its (nearly) original site.

Peter W. Cook

SHORE FISHING DOWN EAST

A century before Europeans arrived to settle permanently along the New England coast, they sailed across the Atlantic to fish there. The bounty available to them in the waters along the shore and inland could be had by simply dropping a hook and line from a dugout canoe.

A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN VALENTINE LETTER

Old holiday customs among the German-speaking immigrants who settled in William Penn’s colony included sending valentines to those they loved—and those they didn’t.

VALENTINE'S SWEETS FOR YOUR SWEETIE

We tapped two popular early cookbooks for some treats to give to your loved ones on Valentine’s Day.

CARVE A SPOON RACK

A chip-carved masterpiece the author missed out on at auction inspired him to try making one himself. He offers step-by-step instructions for carving and assembling a similar piece to add to your period home.

James G. Chandler