Of the humble one-room log house the cooper’s son wrote: “At meal time it was all kitchen. On rainy days, when neighbors came to relate their exploits, how many deer and wild turkey they had killed, it was all sitting room. On Sunday, when the young men all dressed up in their jeans, and the young ladies, in their best bow dresses, it was all parlor. At night it was all bedroom.”
Outside, wood stacked high during the summer, dwindled rapidly as the winter passed.
From the ash hoppers, found in every backyard, lye was leeched for use in making soap.
Wells with windlass ropes and wooden buckets supplied the household with needed water.
Rain barrels caught the “soft” water that dripped from the eaves. This water was used for the family washing.