PENNSBURY MANOR -- PART 2

Here's the conclusion of my trip to Pennsbury Manor.  I want to note that although the furnishings are authentic 300 year old pieces, they did not necessarily belong to the Penn family.  Apparently Penn's sons were not interested in the estate, sold off things and let it fall into ruin.

This is a portrait of William Penn's father.  It's hanging in the upper hall.

 This is William and Hannah's bedroom.   The box on the bed is a laptop writing desk.  (The guide called it the first laptop computer.  Ha, ha.)  Penn suffered from gout and many days could not get out of bed, so he worked on the commonwealth's business here.

This is his adult daughter Letitia's bedroom.  It was very pretty and feminine.

Here's the Great Hall.  The servants and slaves sat on benches at this table to eat.  When the Penns had company, they would pull the chairs up to the table and eat here.

This is a portrait of Queen Katherine, the wife of King Charles II.  The pewter charger on the left hand side is known to definitely belong to William Penn.  His initials are on it.

The red chest was where Hannah Penn kept her linens (tablecloth, napkins, etc.)  In the back you can see a linen press.  There were no irons, so this is how they got the tablecloths smooth and the creases just so.  The portrait on the wall is of Charles II.  We were moving right along and I didn't have time to take a picture of it.

 In a hallway between the Great Hall and a back room there were two little storage rooms.  This was the one on the right.

 And this was the one on the left.

 In the back room Hannah made medicines.  Apparently it was the job of the "lady of the house" to make sure all the tenants were healthy.

 In the bakehouse this lady is making something over the fire.  Can you guess what it is?

 Soap!  Which is pretty funny because we found out that they only bathed twice a year -- spring and fall -- and washed their clothes only three times a year -- spring, summer and fall.  Guess that's why there isn't very much soap being made.

In the cooking part of the building they were making bread and stew.  The fire was very hot.  I would not want to cook in a fireplace in the middle of summer.

These people were making a lemon cake and almond macaroons.  I was able to talk with the lady at length about 17th century cooking.  It seems they ate only one large meal a day between 2 and 4 p.m.  Their breakfast was whatever was left over from the night before.  Because there was no refrigeration all the food had to be consumed quickly so it wouldn't spoil.

When I saw this large cask I thought perhaps this was the laundry room.  But no, they didn't wash, remember?  This was the brewery.  They made beer.  Lots and lots of beer.  Every person drank about 5 quarts of beer a day.  The gentry drank the most potent, the servants the next, and the slaves and children the least potent.  Carole and I were guessing that because they didn't eat a lot, the beer kept their stomachs full.

Once outside we saw a peacock.

We saw some oxen and an Arabian horse.  The guide said they don't know if Penn owned Arabians, but he had white horses, so this is the representative white horse.

I don't think I've ever seen oxen before.

There were some sheep too.

There is a beehive in the herb garden.  Since they grew all their own fruits, vegetables and herbs it was a great way to pollinate their plants.  And they got honey besides.

Penn had his own barge which he kept in a boathouse.  I thought it was interesting that it was built in Southwest Harbor, Maine where my brothers and sister and her family live.  They used to work for a company that built yachts.  I will have ask them if this is the company they used to work for.

And here's Penn's barge.

 It was a great day.  It was windy and got cold toward the end of the tour so we were happy to get back into the car.  Since Joe has never been there hopefully I can take him with me next time.