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.
Conestoga wagon was the Swiss Army knife of vehicles
The Conestoga wagon had many tools that helped families move westward in the 1800s. Paul Locher gives a detailed description of its most important features.
Corn husking bees brought neighbors together for work, socializing
Paul Locher details one of the great seasonal traditions among settlers in the Ohio Country — the husking bee or husking frolic.
Some trivia about trivets
Early Ohio cooks relied on iron trivets to control heat over open fires. These tools evolved from simple cookware to ornate cast-iron household staples.
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.
By hook or by crook, the wheat harvest was accomplished with intensive labor
Paul Locher details how 1800s pioneers in Ohio Country would have accomplished the wheat harvest and describes the tools they would have used to do it.
From stalk to shock to fodder, harvesting the corn crop required a myriad of...
Paul Locher explains how early settlers of Ohio country would have harvested corn, detailing the tools they would have used.
Early settlers’ decisions could mean life or death
After arriving and establishing a campsite, settlers had to deal with a trio of priorities immediately — clearing land, planting crops and building shelter.
From scalding trough to gambrels, butchering was a gruesome task
Paul Locher describes the beginning stages of butchering a hog on the frontiers of Ohio Country in the early 1800s.
Bringing out the broadaxe and hewing to the line
Once early settlers had felled, sectioned and de-barked trees, it was time for the hewing process to begin, which required a broadaxe and a marking axe.
