 Home
of Washington County's
first senator, Daniel Davenport
The
Homestead
 ake
a trip to Creswell's Davenport Homestead and see what everyday
life was like over 200 years ago. The main house is less than
600 square feet— not much larger than the family living area
of many of today's homes. It was built in the late 1700s and
rests on cypress blocks because brick footings were beyond the
means of Daniel Davenport, the owner
 and
future North Carolina senator of Washington County. Other
buildings have been moved to the site to help demonstrate life
at that time.
Each room of the house displays
artifacts of daily life. A crude ladder leads to a loft
where children slept on rope beds.. An open hearth offers a
swinging iron crane ready for an iron pot. Bowls made of
gourds await hot porridge from the hearth. A sedge broom
stands ready to sweep the house. Since chickens ran free and
ate the grass, a reed broom cam e
in handy for keeping the yard neat. The week's wash was boiled
in big black pots, scrubbed on wash boards with lye soap and
hung on bushes to dry. (Landscaping, like everything else back
then, had a practical use.)
A beautiful old loom, found in
the attic of the house, has been relocated to a Loom House.
The loom was used to weave simple fabric for clothes, sheets,
tablecloths and more. Thread was spun from cotton, wool and
flax. Discarded clothing and rags were used to make quilts as
well as rugs. Recycling was a way of life. |
