The Norman Gateway and Moat Garden, Windsor Castle c. 1770
by Paul Sandby (Royal Collection Trust)
On the eve of the first day of spring, I'd like to share some information on what produce was being grown in the gardens of the 18th-century backcountry in Colonial America- as one cannot live on parched corn and jerky alone. In the late 1760s in the Carolinas, the Reverend Charles Woodmason complained about "Subsisting on my Bisket and Rice Water and Musk Melons, Cucumbers, Green Apples and Peaches and such Trash."
Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber,
ca. 1602, Juan Sánchez Cotán.
Annie (Henry) Christian of Dunkard's bottom wrote to her sister in law, Anne (Christian) Fleming at her home Belmont (Roanoke, Virginia) on April 29, 1775 "...I left some Turnip seed behind a glass in your Hall (if I remember right) with please send @ first oppertunity, & I must beg some Colewort [kale] seed [and?] Cabbage seed from you, as all that Mr. Christian brought me up, Seems good for nothing...P.S. I want a little Cucumber seed too." [MSS x-4 Washington & Lee University William and Anne Fleming Family papers ]
Sarah and James Nourse
While traveling in Kentucky in the same year, Virginian James Nourse wrote about the food (including fresh greens) he ate:
"Sunday, June 18th ....Stopt about half an hour to eat Mulberries- by which means got wet before we got to Harrod's between 5 and 6 oClock, got an excellent stew of buffalo and as much Lettuce and young Endive as I could eat but no bread, made as good a Meal as ever I would with-a tolerable good house having a floor and a Chimney but not stopt- a pleasant situation & good water. Monday 19th Having breakfasted upon Stewed pork without Bread or Salad, proceeded for Boonsburg..."
"Sunday, June 18th ....Stopt about half an hour to eat Mulberries- by which means got wet before we got to Harrod's between 5 and 6 oClock, got an excellent stew of buffalo and as much Lettuce and young Endive as I could eat but no bread, made as good a Meal as ever I would with-a tolerable good house having a floor and a Chimney but not stopt- a pleasant situation & good water. Monday 19th Having breakfasted upon Stewed pork without Bread or Salad, proceeded for Boonsburg..."
William Calk's Journal of his trip to Kentucky mentions "...Elk gardin...Suplid our Selves with Seed Corn & irish tators...a walet of Corn..."[March 30, 1775].
An extensive list of the vegetable, flower and fruit seeds that "Messers Benton and Wharton" shipped to the Illinois country in 1768 is available in Appendix C of Mark Baker's "Sons of a Trackless Forest" (print version only).
