Caroline Wise

From the "History of Western North Carolina by John Preston Arthur

THE LIVING ROOM. Usually, in more primitive days, the beds, mostly of feathers, were arranged round the room, leaving a large open space in the middle. The dining table stood there or against a wall near the fireplace. The hearth was wide and projected into the room two feet or more. A crane swung from the back of the chimney on which pots were hung from "pot hooks," familiar to beginners in writing lessons and the ovens were placed on live coals while their lids, or as they were generally called "leds," were covered with other live coals and left on the broad hearth. In the kitchen of the old Mitchell Alexander Hotel or "Cattle stand," eleven miles below Asheville on the French Broad, there is still standing and in daily use a deep old fireplace ten feet wide, the hearth of which projects into the room eight or nine feet. The water bucket with a curved handled gourd stood on a shelf just inside the door. Usually there was no wash pan, the branch or spout near by being deemed sufficient for all purposes. A comb in a box under a small and imperfect looking-glass usually hung on the wall over the water bucket. Around the walls behind the beds on pegs were hung the skirts of the girls and women; and, if the men of the house owned any extra coats or trousers, they hung there, too. On the tops of boxes or trunks, usually called "chists," were folded and piled in neat order the extra quilts, sheets and counterpanes. Some of these counterpanes or "coverlids" were marvels of skill and beauty in color and design and all were woven in the loom which stood at one end of the porch or shed in front of the house. There was also a wooden cupboard nailed against the wall which contained racks for the plates and dishes. Beneath this was a place for the pots and pans, after the cooking was over.