Everyday Life in Colonial

VirginiaInteractive Notes

VS. 4e

1. Everyday life was different for whites, slaves, and free African Americans

in colonial times. How much wealth a person had and

the color of their skin made a difference in how they lived and what they had.

There were no supermarkets to provide food, and no

stores to shop for clothes and shoes. People in

colonial Virginia depended on different kinds of

resources to produce the goods and services they

needed.

Good: Goods are items that can be seen or touched. They are

wants and needs that people have that they can get.

Service: A service is something that’s provided by other people.

2. Food choices in colonial Virginia were limited. Meals were made of local

produce and meats. Simply getting food took up most of the day, and there wasn’t a lot to choose from. People had to eat what was grown near their homes and what was in season. In the spring,

there was a plenty of fish. In the summer, fruits were available from

trees. Autumn was harvest time, and people were busy preserving and storing

vegetables and foods to last them through the winter.

Work growing, gathering, storing, and making food

began early in the morning and lasted until it was too

dark to see. This went on all year long. There was very

little time for rest or play.

In one sentence, describe the food choices of colonial

Virginia and how meals were made.

Draw pictures showing examples of food choices in colonial Virginia (and how

hard it was to make a meal!)

3. Most people in colonial Virginia lived in one-room

houses with dirt floors. Some people (wealthier farmers) lived in large

houses.

• Owning plantations made a few Virginians very

rich. They lived in grand houses with many servants

or slaves.

• Poor white Virginians, however, made a living from

their land. They lived in small, one-room homes with

dirt floors.

•Most enslaved African Americans had no rights

and worked tobacco, other crops, and livestock. Most lived in wooden shacks with dirt floors and housed more

than one family.

• Not all African Americans were enslaved. Although freedom is clearly better than a life in chains, free African Americans unfortunately were rarely treated the same as white colonists.

Some owned small businesses or land, but were still denied most rights. They could not vote or testify in court against white people. They were also likely to

live in small, one-room homes, but typically in more urban centers

(meaning, bigger cities with more people).

How did most people live in colonial Virginia (in what

type of home)?

Draw a picture of what most houses looked like on the

outside/inside.

4. Households usually made their own clothes in colonial Virginia. Most clothing was made of cotton,

wool, and/or leather. Not only was it difficult to find and make clothing, but how a person dressed was very important. People could not just

wear whatever they wanted. How a person dressed would tell others

their place in society (whether they were rich or poor, basically!).

• Slaves often worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and were only given tiny

rations of food and clothing. Their clothing was often

hand-me-downs, worn either by their owners or other

slaves. They rarely had a change of clothing.

• Free African Americans had a couple changes of

clothing, but wore them until they could no longer be

mended or patched. They wore the same clothing for

all occasions—church, work, social gatherings.

• Much like free African Americans, poor white farmers had a couple

changes of clothing, but wore them until they

couldn’t be mended or patched anymore. They

wore the same clothing for most occasions.

• Wealthy farmers and plantation owners (also called the

gentry) dressed very differently from others in colonial Virginia. There were not as many of these

people, and they dressed fashionably to show off their social

status. They did not perform physical labor. They wore many

layers of clothing and spent much of their time attending social events.

How did most households get their clothing?