4.2 Life in Cities

Open Ended

If you could go to any restaurant (money is no object), what restaurant would you go to?

Before we learn what life was like in the cities, let's review what life was like on a farm in the 1700s.

Multiple Choice

Where did most people live in the 1700's in the colonies?

• on a large plantation

• on a small farm

• in a city

• in the wilderness

Multiple Choice

What proportion of the colonial population lived on small family farms?

• 1/20 (5%)

• 1/2 (50%)

• 3/4 (75%)

• 9/10 (90%)

Multiple Select

True or False: Most farming families built their own houses and barns.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Most farming homes in the colonies had _________ rooms.

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Multiple Choice

The most dangerous task of living on a farm is

• sleeping

• chopping wood

• cooking

• farming

Multiple Choice

The fireplace was always lit

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The farm day begins...

• before sunrise

• after sunrise

• before sunset

• after sunset

Multiple Select

Jobs for families living on colonial farms included... [Choose ALL that APPLY]

• making furniture

• tending crops

• making candles and soap

• feeding animals

4.2 Life in Cities​

In 1750, about one out of every 20 colonists lived in a city. Compared to the peaceful farm life, cities were exciting places.

​

The heart of the colonial city was the waterfront. There, ships brought news from England as well as eagerly awaited items, such as paint, carpets, furniture, and books.

Multiple Choice

What proportion of the colonial population lived in cities?

• 1/2

• 1/20

• 9/10

• 1/3

​Just beyond the docks, a marketplace bustled with fishers selling their catch and farmers peddling fresh eggs, milk, and cheese.

​

Close by were taverns, where food and drink were served and people could gather to exchange gossip and news from other colonies.

​The nearby streets were lined with shops. 

Sparks flew from the blacksmith's block as he hammered iron into tools, while shoemakers, clockmakers, silversmiths, tailors, and other craftspeople turned out goods based on the latest designs from England.
There were also barbers to cut colonists' hair and wigmakers to make it look long again.

Multiple Choice

Blacksmiths took _______________

to create useful tools

• iron

• wood

• cotton

• cement

​Cities were often noisy, smelly places. Church bells rang out several times a day, while carts clattered loudly over streets paved with round cobblestones where animals ran loose.
During hot weather, clouds of flies and mosquitoes swarmed about, and the air was filled with the stench of rotting garbage and open sewers. But the colonists were used to these sights and smells.

​City homes were close together on winding streets. Most were built of wood with thatched roofs, like the houses the colonists had left behind in Europe. Windows were small because glass was expensive.

Multiple Choice

Most homes here were made of

• cement

• cobblestone

• bricks

• wood

​For lighting, colonists used torches made of pine that burned brightly when they were wedged between hearthstones in the fireplace. Colonists also burned grease in metal containers called “betty lamps” and made candles scented with bayberries.

Multiple Choice

Metal containers used for burning grease were called

• candles

• betty lamps

• patty lamps

• veronica lamps

Multiple Choice

Candles were scented with

• wax

• animal fat

• whale blubber

• bayberries

​With torches and candles lighting homes, fire was a constant danger. To counter the threat of fires, colonists kept fire buckets hanging by their front doors so that when a fire broke out, the whole town would grab their buckets and form a double line from the fire to a river, pond, or well. They passed the buckets full of water from hand to hand up one line to the fire before being passed back down the opposite line to be refilled.

Open Ended

Think about everything we just read about.

Describe what a person living in a colonial city might see, hear, smell, taste, and touch there.