Rural Life Before the American Revolution

Описание: For this show, Dan Forrest of the Public Archaeology Library (PAL) was joined by Ken Feder of Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) and Meg Harper of Archaeological and Historical Services of Storrs, CT.

The discussion opened with the description of once-forested areas that had been clear-cut to support farming, which most residents practiced. This deforestation explains why, today, items such as "haunted" houses and cemeteries are often found in the middle of wooded areas: It's because today, 2/3 of the state is wooded, whereas back when those items were created, they were in the middle of non-wooded areas. But legends about them arose and persist, and an example was documented in 1993 by Dr. Feder in his book, "A Village of Outcasts: Historical Archaeology and Documentary Research at the Lighthouse Site."

In the talk, Dr. Feder describes how archaeological and genealogical work has transformed misconceptions about the Barkhamsted, CT village and the families which lived there from 1740 to 1860. And their descendants. Similar work was described by Ms. Harper, who contrasted the histories of 3 farming families in different parts of the state, as well as how Indigenous tribes impacted the kinds of foods they ate ("wild-caught"), and how their lives contrasted with each other and those around them.

For information on Dr. Feder's book on Amazon.com, please visit https://www.amazon.com/Village-Outcas...

To learn more about FOSA, please visit our website - https://www.fosa-ct.org/