With the coming of winter, pioneering activities moved to the great indoors
Discover how Ohio pioneers built fireplaces and chimneys that were both the heart of the home and a vital tool for survival through harsh frontier winters.
Hunting deer and foxes was the stuff of legend for settlers
Major Gen. David Sloane Stanley’s memoirs offer vivid stories of hunting fox, deer and more in 1800s Wayne County, capturing pioneer life in Ohio.
Whether raccoon, groundhog or weasel, it was still meat on the table for hunters
Frontier life meant hunting raccoons, groundhogs and weasels. Major General David Sloane Stanley’s memoirs reveal the challenges of pioneer hunts in Ohio.
Recollections and observations on hunting in the Ohio Country
From squirrel hunts to rabbit pot pies, pioneer life in Ohio meant hunting not for sport, but survival — with skill, dogs and a trusty Kentucky rifle.
Settlers worked up big appetites, but what did they put on their plates?
Discover what early settlers really ate—and how Winslow Homer’s art shaped a myth about life on the American frontier.
Numerous pioneer craftsmen turned out holders for candles
Candleholders on the frontier of the Ohio country could be as plain or as fancy as the local craftsmen had the ability and tools to make them.
On the frontier, tallow candles were expensive to make and used sparingly
History writer Paul Locher delves into the expense of making tallow candles on the frontiers of Ohio Country in the 1800s.
Butchering provided the fuel needed for frontier lighting
After butchering on the frontier, the oiliest, slimiest fat taken from the animal was carefully set aside and preserved for lighting purposes.
Lard, scrapple and cracklins complete the butchering job
Paul Locher pens a column about how early Ohio and Pennsylvania settlers would have produced lard, scrapple and cracklins to complete butchering a hog.
Where all that good meat comes from … as if you really wanted to...
Paul Locher trakes readers to the early 1800s in Ohio Country, explaining how pioneers butchered hog carcasses and made sausage and what tools they used.
