Hallowell Elementary School Library: Colonial Trades

Young readers will visit the workshops of the wheelwright, cooper, founder, shoemaker, milliner, gunsmith, and many more

Long before machines pieced together fabrics, dresses were handmade by the loving and capable hands of dressmakers. Copying the designers and fashions of Europe, while creating new patterns of their own, colonial dressmakers would eventually invent a purely American sensibility and style.

Most early American towns were started with a minister, a blacksmith, and a miller. Isaac Keeler owned the gristmill in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The day begins on April 27, 1777, describing Keelers life as a miller for the small Connecticut town. The day ends with Keeler setting out as a militia man to fight in the American Revolutions Battle of Ridgefield, and with Keelers mill being burned down by the British.

Imagine traveling back in time to hear a young Ben Franklin complain about the smell of tallow or to celebrate with a Cheyenne boy who has just killed his first buffalo. What about learning to make a quill pen or hasty pudding? the numerous projects and enjoyable activities in Hands-On History allow young readers to do just that. Thanks to easy, step-by-step instructions and an engaging you are there tone, children can build models of tepees and windmills, play age-old games, and cook traditional recipes. In doing so, they gain firsthand experience of different customs and fascinating insight into different times and places in American history.