On our third week of Preservation Virginia‘s homeschool days, we visited Smith’s Fort Plantation.
Regrettably, it seems like the quality of the locations was dropping off by this point. This day was shared with the Bacon’s Castle site. Being a split event, there were only two activities at this location. One was where the kids got to make their own whirlygigs. The other was where they could practice writing with a quill. The only other activity on this site was a tour of the main building.
Smith’s Fort Plantation and the nearby fort remains are located on the land that was gifted to John Rolfe by Wahunsenacawh, the father of Pocahontas, as a dower gift. This was kind of a slick move by the Indigenous people. The land was very poor for agriculture at the time and essentially useless. One interesting aspect of the house that really caught Mom’s attention was the floor cloth in the main building.
Floorcloths?
These floorcloths were a popular feature in many of the more affluent homes of the era. It serves as a way to preserve the wooden floors while also adding decoration and a touch of elegance to the entryway or parlor. The floor cloth found in this particular house was a great example of the styles used during the time period. Interestingly enough, during my research for this post, I saw evidence of floor clothes coming back into style in modern homes. The difference only being in material and subject matter. The 18th-century floorcloths were mostly made of unstretched canvas and painted by hand in simple patterns. Or to mimic tiles, stone, or other more expensive flooring. 21st-century counterparts are now made with printed vinyl or linoleum. Their patterns range from copies of the past to psychedelic mandalas or 3D illusions.
This is why we love homeschooling on the road! You can go to a location, nominally to learn a little bit about pre-revolution or post-colonial America, but then something catches your interest and leads to an interesting side quest. The prehistory of America leads to the history of tapestries in Europe, the industrial changes in the United States after the Revolution, and eventually to changes in materials and mass production. Homeschooling allows us the freedom to “follow the whys” and I hope this helps you and your family to do the same!