"This, you must know, is the growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here." Dickens knew the word (like there were any words that Dickens didn't know-Ha!) (This quote is taken from Bleak House-chapter 8)
A growlery is a place you can go when you just need a grown-up time out. When you feel angry or growl-y! I love it! I need one! Everyone needs one! This is the view from this "growlery". I can imagine it might make you feel better! It's just a room but would probably have resembled an old time "man-cave".
On our field trip today we toured a mansion that was built and inhabited by some of the pioneering people in that area!
I found the whole trip very interesting and worth the drive (we had to travel a bit to get there)....but there is so much history to be learned and it is not dry facts but real stories. You can almost picture these people living in this home and see them using the stuff you are looking at!
Did you know that the baby bedding would have had red on it (rather than pink or blue or yellow) because red symbolized LIFE in a time when babies died so often from disease or unexplained (SIDS) death? It's much more real when you've seen the baby bed with the white and RED bedding in it.
Entertainment? They had a little table set up with a miniature croquet set!
And a kind of a stereoscope to view pictures or slides in "3D"-a far cry from what we expect in 3D entertainment!
And how about a "lazyboy"???
Toilet Paper? It actually said "Onion Skin" on it! This was real-not a replica. They had indoor plumbing and a flushing toilet!
Laundry! See the washtubwith the washboard? And the drying racks you see....those went into part of the central heating system (these people were really up and coming for their time!)...and the heat dried the clothing! (Remember all of the bustle and slips, etc the girls had to put on the mannequin? Can you imagine washing all of that like this!?)
The girls practiced dressing a mannequin in the clothing (and underclothing) of the time period! We talked about how hot that must have been to wear all of those things at once! (and if you'll see how my kids are dressed in January you can tell that it's not a very cold place!)
The boys got to dress Nathan up like a cowhand! Mr Fulton was a cattle baron-that's how he made his wealth!
Nathan was very interested in all the things you can do with a dead cow (besides make a hamburger).
Sadly, much of the mansion is in need of repair...time and use has taken it's toll. They are actually closing the house down for tours very soon-so we got in just in time!
Somebody needed to visit the growlery! He was told he couldn't touch something...I don't even remember what it was. He didn't really care about not touching the thing, he just has this thing lately that if you tell him "No" You're MEAN! (and he says it. Loudly!)
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