University of Virginia Library

Early Mode of Living

The first houses erected in the Roanoke and Catawba
valleys were log cabins, with covers of split
clapboards, and were kept in place by weighted
poles. The floors were made of split puncheons,
hewed smooth on one side. These puncheons were
removable, and under them were stored fruits and
vegetables for the winter. It was not an uncommon
sight in the winter time to see the family gathered
at night around a blazing fire, and while some regaled
the others with banjo or violin music, one of
the floor puncheons was raised and a pail of fine
apples brought out from below, and a genuine treat
awaited each member of the household.

The furniture was handmade and rude. The table
furniture consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates,
and spoons, but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers,
and noggins. If these were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled
squashes made up the deficiency. All iron
pots, vessels, knives and forks, as well as salt and
iron, were carried on pack horses from the eastern
side of the mountains.

The food was of the plainest. Hog and hominy
was the proverbial dish. Johnny cake and pone
were the bread used for most part. Milk and mush
was the standard dish for supper. When milk was
scarce, as was usually the case, hominy supplied the
place of mush. Mush was frequently eaten with
sweetened water, bear's oil, or the gravy of fried
meat. Truck and garden patches were much in evidence,
and the vegetables were usually cooked with
venison or bear meat.

Owing to the insecure coverings for their feet in
winter, most of the early settlers slept with their
feet to the fire to prevent rheumatism.

Salt was a great object with the first settlers. It
was brought in on pack horses. The common price
of a bushel of alum salt was a cow and calf.

Coffee was not used until after the Revolution.
When tea was introduced, it was a puzzle to prepare
it. One old lady said she drank the broth and her
husband ate the greens.