My 200th Post!

To mark the occasion, here is a little taste of life 200 years ago.

If you lived in America in 1809, you more than likely lived on a small family farm. Everyone worked long and hard. Often there was barely enough food to go around. Little formal education was available--boys were taught farming skills while the girls learned homemaking.

James Madison was your new President. He was only the fourth president of the newly independent United States.

Here is a map of the states and territories at the time:

The Industrial Revolution was taking place and many new advances were being invented. Nicolas Appert won a French award for "making the seasons stand still" with his invention of canning food in glass jars.

According to Wikipedia, the Cray House in Maryland, built in 1809, was a typical style for the time:

If you were a woman, you cast a longing eye at these figures in the fashion magazines:

This is a day dress that has been preserved from the time:

If you were a man, breeches were socially correct:

Times have changed. Don't you wish we still wore our hair in these do's?

A prominent author of the time was Washington Irving, known for "Rip Van Winkle" as well as "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
It is also interesting to note three significant births of the year: Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.