With trees cut down, firewood takes center stage
How did settlers chop fire wood and heat their homes in 1800s Ohio Country? Paul Locher offers insight in the latest installment of An American Tale.
Many arms (and legs) were required at a house raising
Paul Locher details the dangerous and exciting process of raising a house on the frontier of the Ohio Country in the 1800s.
You couldn’t pioneer without a felling axe
Paul Locher continues his "An American Tale" series by introducing readers to the most important tool used to open the American frontier — the felling axe.
It’s time to bring on the schnitzelbank
Paul Locher details the special tools early settlers required to construct sturdy roofs for their homes in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the 1800s.
After the house raising, there was still plenty to do
Paul Locher continues the journey of early settlers in Ohio by detailing the work they did following a house raising in his latest An American Tale column.
Without a blacksmith, there wasn’t a town
Paul Locher explains that the single most important craftsman that was needed to get an 1800s frontier town going and make it thrive was a blacksmith.
By hook or by crook, the wheat harvest was accomplished with intensive labor
Paul Locher details how 1800s pioneers in Ohio Country would have accomplished the wheat harvest and describes the tools they would have used to do it.
From a lump of clay the potter made everything for pioneers
After the blacksmith, a potter was the next essential skilled tradesman in the burgeoning
towns of early Ohio Country in the 1800s.
Completing the punch list before occupying the barnhouse
Once the the main log crib of the barnhouse was built, there were still a number of tasks to complete before it was ready to occupy through the winter.
Log rollings brought neighbors together and resulted in spectacular infernos
Logging and log rolling were critical parts of land clearing operations in early America.
