Colonial Communities

By:

Rivka BoniukAriella BulmanAnael EpsteinYonah FensterNoa Isaacson Mikayla Jason

Boaz KahnAmaliah Labinsky-Fleischer

Hillel Schwab

The Town Common and Herdsmen

The common was a big lawn in the center of a town where everybody met.

Around the common was the meeting house, and all the public buildings in a community, such as the tavern and general store.

Animals could graze on the common.

The town herdsmen were expected to take care of everybody's animals. The townspeople dropped their animals off in the morning at night they picked them up.

The Layout of a Colonial Town

The harbor was the busiest part of town.

The marketplace was in the middle of town.

There was a gristmill, general store, blacksmith shop, barrel maker, wagon maker, church and a school.

The Gristmill The gristmill was used to make grain into flour.

It was very hard to find a spot for the gristmill because the gristmill needed water.

The people had to build a lot of things for a gristmill.

House Raisings

When a family moved into a new town the men would come together and build the new family a house.

After the house was finished they would have a big celebration.

Inns and TavernsInns were just like hotels.

Villagers would drink a lot of wine and beer .

They were the first post offices.

Inns had names like The Old Swan,The Red House,and the Plow and Harrow.

Punishments in Colonial Times

Stocks-small wooden device with foot holes. A person would sit up straight And their legs were held out straight the feet were locked in the foot holes.

Pillory- had holes for a persons head and hands and it was wooden. The person would have to stand up.

Colonial Firefighting In colonial times, there were no fire or police departments or hose pumps

In case of fire , all the townspeople would help put it out by making two rows: one with dry buckets and one with wet buckets

Instead of police, there were town watchmen

Their job was to alert people when there was a fire

To spread news about a fire, there were town criers. They would shout out a short statement

Theater in Colonial TimesMany colonies banned theaters and acting because it wasn't proper for Christians.A famous theater opened in 1752.More theaters followed in places like New York, Annapolis, and Charleston.The first play written in the colonies was called, The Prince of Parthia by Thomas Godfrey.