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FORTY FORT — Colonial life was hard. No stores to buy soap or clothing, and everything had to be made by hand, Sherry Emershaw told guests at the Nathan Denison House.
Dressed in colonial attire, Emershaw, a tour guide at the house and a member of the Denison Advocates, welcomed the public into the historic home as its doors opened for the summer season on Sunday. The Denison Advocates, who are caretakers of the 1790 colonial-era home, provide tours every Sunday until the end of September.
History lessons contained within the four walls of the New England-style home span the early settlement of the Wyoming Valley and provide a glimpse into what daily life was like for the colonists.
“Colonel Denison was a founding father of the Wyoming Valley,” Emershaw said. “He was one of the first 40 colonists that arrived from Connecticut. The town was named after those 40 settlers.”
Denison, a colonel in the Connecticut militia, was the first judge in the Wyoming Valley and played a role in ending the Battle of Wyoming, signing the Articles of Capitulation.
He also was the first to marry in the region. He married Elizabeth Sills in 1772. The couple had four daughters and three sons.
Emershaw escorted guests into the family room of the home and noted the room still had the original flooring and paneling.
“Many important people who helped form the Wyoming Valley walked across this floor,” she said.
Then the tour entered the colonial kitchen.
There were no stoves, refrigerators or sinks in the room.
The room contained just a long narrow wood table, many different herbs hanging above the hearth and many cast-iron pots. Emershaw explained Betsy maintained a fire in the hearth 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“She would bake one day a week,” she said.
Paula Brown, of West Wyoming, was intrigued.
“Why did they only bake once a week,” Brown asked.
“The women were very busy,” Emershaw said. “They had to make soap, spinning thread to make cloth for clothes, gardening, cooking, churning butter and mending. She did this all with children at her feet. Remember there were no stores.”
Besty probably started her day at 4 a.m. by gathering eggs and beginning to prepare her meals, Emershaw said.
Adjacent to the kitchen was a simple oval-shaped wooden table in Nathan’s office. This small table was where Denison and Colonial John Butler signed the Articles of Capitulation, she said.
“This little table made such a difference in so many lives,” Emershaw said.
Up narrow stairs, guests saw the simple furnishings of the Denisons’ bedroom and their sons’ and daughters’ rooms.
“Most people are very fascinated,” Emershaw said of the tours. “The Wyoming Valley played a role in the Revoluntary War. We fed Washington’s Army.”
Special events are planned throughout the summer. For more information, check out the Nathan Denison House Facebook page.
