First published in 1952, this is historian Edmund S. Morgan’s second book on family life in the American colonies. An informative, well-researched and well written book, Morgan sketches the day-to-day life of colonial Virginians. From the planters of the Tidewater to the Scotch-Irish and German farmers in the Shenandoah Valley, he explores such matters as childhood, marriage, servants and slaves, homes, and holidays in the complex society of eighteenth-century Virginia. An entertaining and enlightening book that allows the reader to glimpse into the world of 18th Century family life.

Describes 27 homes in Virginia from Toddsbury built around 1690 to Woodside Farm built in 1850 with color photographs and histories of the families who live in them.

Notable for their early dates and historical significance, these manuals afford previously unavailable insights into lifestyles and foodways during the evolution of Chesapeake society." "One cookbook is an anonymous work dating from 1700; the other is the 1739-1743 cookbook of Jane Bolling Randolph, a descendant of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. In addition to her textual analysis that establishes the relationship between these two early manuscripts, Harbury links them to the 1824 classic The Virginia House-wife by Mary Randolph."--Jacket.