Inside a Pilgrim's Home

The inside of a Pilgrim home was very simple. The house had one large room called a keeping room. Here the family ate, worked, and slept. There was a large fireplace used for cooking and heating. For these very reasons the fireplace was one of the most important features of the house. The floor of the home might be dirt, stone or wood, depending upon what the family could afford. They didn't have much furniture. The furniture usually consisted of a table where the family ate their meals and perhaps one chair at first. Chairs at the dinner table were reserved for adults until there were enough chairs for everyone. Normally children had to eat standing up at the dinner table. When chairs were not in use, they were often hung up on the wall to make more room.

Pilgrims ate from metal plates and used ceramic vessels for drinking or storing their ink for writing letters. Copper pots or cauldrons were used to heat water to make tea or soup, wash clothes and dishes, and to heat water for baths.

Children slept on mattresses filled with straw, feathers, or bits of wool. One of the first chores the children did after they were dressed was to roll up and store their mattresses. Parents had a real bed that was off the floor. It had a curtain around it for privacy. Babies slept in cradles between the parents' bed and the fireplace.