Part 2 of Inside the Lindsey Home

One corner of Lindsey's house downstairs is  the bedroom which is lighted by a doeskin membrane window (similar to waxpaper) A lamp contains a milkweed or moss wick floating in bear grease.  The plank shutters can be bolted from the inside.  A ladder leads to the 2nd floor attic bedroom for older children or guests.  The bed is attached to the wall corner with posts for legs and crisscrossed thongs for support. There is a trundle bed that pulls out for small children. The doeskin mattress is filled with cornhusks in summer, partridge down in winter. Ann made the quilt - making dyes from nuts, roots, bark and berries.  She makes small braid rugs and mats from cornhusks - one covers the floor in this room. 

Ann's new husband whittles her a broom from a hickory sapling by cutting thin strips up from one end and then these are wrapped and tied down.  in the winter when he has time, he also makes brushes from smaller saplings. 

Around June the long, blue flowered flax stems are pulled up, soaked and spread on the grass to dry.  This makes them soft and the threads easy to get.  The stalks are then crushed, draped atop a swinging posts and slashed with a wooden blade to knock off the woody parts.  Then the fibers are pulled through a coarse comb type device to separate long stems from short ones.  Then it's time for Ann's spinning wheel!

The coarsest thread becomes sacks, next grade men's work clothes, and the finest grade goes to women and children's clothing.  Young children wear "loose slips" indoors.

Ann has her own homemade loom.  She is weaving fine grade sunbonnets and scarves today.  She also uses buffalo or sheep wool to make warm winter clothes.  Women's dresses of wool, linen, or a mixture have long full skirts protected by an apron.  Buttons are wood or half a walnut shell pierced in the center.

Ann Lindsey's home is certainly the center of household chores in this fort! Quite a community behind these sturdy walls - don't you think?  Hope you have enjoyed your visit to Fort Harrod!

Next time...back East it is the end of the war - Independence!
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Today in Pioneer History:  On October 29, 1858, the first store opens in a small frontier town in Colorado Territory that a month later will take the name of Denver in a shameless ploy to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver.