Bowman name carved into door frame
"The Bowman House originally stood in northern Rockingham County, Virginia. The oldest section of the house dates to 1773 and was built either by or for a naturalized German immigrant named Georg Baumann who purchased 260 acres of land in what was then Augusta County in 1772. Baumann arrived in America in 1751, and lived in Berks County, Pennsylvania until the early 1770s when he relocated to Virginia with his son John. Early in Georg Baumann’s time in Virginia his name began to appear in official records as George Bowman." Frontier Culture Museum
Life in the 1820s American Farmhouse
"By the early 1800s, middling farmers in the Valley of Virginia were able to provide a comfortable lifestyle for themselves and their families. Such households were furnished with tables and chairs, coarse earthenware, pewter and ceramic tableware, chests, books, and bed and table linens, though rarely with fashionable goods such as mahogany furniture or porcelain. Virginia Germans often added cast-iron heating stoves and clocks to their household furnishings.
Activities in and around Virginia German farmhouses were reminiscent of their Central European heritage. Wives and daughters worked as hard as the men, and were known to assist the men and boys with fieldwork. In the house, women did the spinning and weaving and made linen and wool cloth that could be traded for goods at local stores or made into coverlets or rag carpeting. Meals prepared by German housewives were distinctive, and included dishes such as sauerkraut, scrapple, and raisin pies.
Anglo-American influences entered the Virginia German lives slowly. By the 1820s, English furniture forms, such as the chest of drawers, began to appear in their houses, and they became tea and coffee drinkers, and began using imported English dinner plates and teacups."
Frontier Culture Museum
I showed you the outside HERE
I'm a huge fan of old wood floors.
ReplyDeleteOur house dates from that period but is totally different as it was built from logs and they used wide poplar floor boards. The rooms were small then but there wasn't a lot of furniture or clothes, no closets!
ReplyDeleteThe rooms look large; I'm a bit surprised but this place must have been comfortable.
ReplyDeletemeow ... that cat was on the move. a mission for sure . . . ( :
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this place when we visited a few years back. So interesting, you have some great pictures of the house. My mom used to talk about her grandmother making saurkraut in big barrels and scrapple when she was young. The cats had their job to do in those days keeping away the pesky little creatures at night. Love the shot you have of this one
ReplyDeletebetsy
love all the wood - but the cat made me grin. :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, cute kitty! Of course I would notice that haha. I do like the wood floors, too :)
ReplyDeleteSo spartan -- must have been alot of hard work for everyone just to get thru the day. Enjoyed this very much Tanya. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to have wider plank floors someday... okay, I'm old, so perhaps in my next life I will have wider planks.
ReplyDeleteI could just walk into these photos and take up residence.
ReplyDeleteI like the large plank floors. Cute kitty too.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Love the wood. Love the simplicity of line and space. It's all good.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very light and airy looking place, and very farmhouse should have a cat!
ReplyDeleteNice pictures - and its hard to believe that cat is almost 200 years old! Must do well on a diet of farm mice!!
ReplyDeleteCheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Great woodwork! These are fantastic buildings/homes you've photographed!
ReplyDeleteWonderful series of shots, Tanya... I'd love to sit and play checkers there, wouldn't you? I'm so glad you came by to share on Rurality Blog Hop #33!
ReplyDelete