A bit of mid-week laundry so I'll have clean shirts for my events this weekend. (When you work Wednesday to Sunday, Friday becomes mid-week.) On Saturday I will be joining @silk.and.sass1776 and her fiancé at the Thomas Paine Cottage Museum in New Rochelle, and Sunday I will take a leisurely stroll down the street to the Caldwell Parsonage for their Hannah Caldwell Day event. I've lived here over a year, so I'm long overdue for introducing myself to the neighbors. Hopefully they'll forgive my poor manners. 18th century laundry was a heavy business, since bathing was a fringe health fad and most people stayed clean by changing the washable underlayers that were against the body (shirts for men, shifts for women) as often as they could manage. The linen shirts, shifts, neck cloths, handkerchiefs, petticoats, and stockings of a variety of materials would be boiled in soapy water and beaten with paddles to get the sweat and body dirt out, and then hang-dried in the sun to fade out dinginess. I use a modern washer (I am not a laundress, nor can I afford to hire one), but line-dry to preserve the fabric and keep things from wrinkling too badly. #18thcenturylife #thomaspaine #thomaspainecottage #caldwellparsonage #laundry #18thcenturylaundry https://www.instagram.com/p/Byao-1SDzYo/?igshid=bpg17qqot0ob
