Middle Colonies
The
Middle Colonies were a part of the original
Thirteen Colonies that would later become
The United States of America. The region was originally
New Netherland, which was later divided into the western half of
Connecticut (which today is part of
New England),
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and
Delaware. Today, these areas are described as the
Mid-Atlantic States.
The Middle Colonies were the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen original colonies because of the influence of their Dutch origins. This influence included tolerance and cosmopolitanism, and resulted in New Netherland's success as the commercial center of the eastern North American colonies. This was evidenced by the fact that they had more
agriculture than the
New England colonies. The Middle Colonies were also known as the "bread basket" colonies because of their large grain export. It was also the mid-Atlantic colonies that expanded into other areas of commerce before the others.
There were many brick buildings in the Middle Colonies due to the amount of clay along the riverbanks. The
Dutch built houses that were usually two-and-a-half to three stories high with steep roofs. The
Germans were the first in the colonies to use
stoves rather than
fireplaces to heat their homes. Many streets were paved, and many people had their shops and homes in the same building. The wealthy would have their portraits painted. Homes in the country could be made of
logs and chinked with moss or mud.
Pioneer families planted crops such as
corn,
wheat,
rye,
potatoes,
peas, and
flax. Flax was used to make cloth; corn was one of the main foods eaten in the colonies. Meat could come from wild animals. Many poorer families ate a form of pudding called cornmeal mush every day of the year.
Johnny cake,
bread made with
cornmeal, was also popular.
Vegetables and meat were used to make
soups and
stews.
Pies were made from gathered
raspberries,
strawberries, and
cherries. Since water was sometimes impure, all members of the family drank
milk and
whiskey, which was made out of corn, rye, wheat, and
barley. The whiskey was often mixed with
spices, milk, and
sugar which many people thought improved the taste. Agriculture wasn't the only profitable way to make a living. The Middle Colonies were full of fish, oysters and lobsters. In the woods, hunting was the game of choice. Wild turkeys roamed everywhere and were ripe for the picking.
Originally, clothing in the Middle Colonies for the most part resembled the Dutch form of dress.
Quakers wore neat and simple clothing as their religion taught them. Many clothes were homemade on the frontier. Flax produced
linen and deerskin was used to make
breeches,
shirts,
jackets, and
moccasins.
Forest products were used to make a
dye. Yellow came from
butternut tree bark; red came from the roots of the
madder herb; blue was extracted from the flowers of
indigo plants; brown came from the hulls of
black walnuts.
