The wife of a wealthy plantation owner would have a great deal of responsibilities in the overseeing of the house. Although she herself, would not have had to do the backbreaking labor these chores entailed, she would often have overseen the servants and slaves that performed the work. It was a mark of prestige for a family when the woman of the house did not have to provide the direct labor in the operations of the household. (Brown, 1996, p.263)
The running of a plantation home would have involved supervising the cleaning, food procurement and preparation, providing hospitality to guests, attending the clothing needs of the household, the procurement and/or supervision in making basic household goods such as soap and candles, taking care of the sick, and child care.
Food procurement was a large and extremely important part of running a large household. The wife of a plantation owner would have had a garden, poultry, a dairy, and other livestock that she oversaw. She would have to manage the supplies of the items produced from these things, knowing how much poultry, pork, milk, eggs, etc. the household used in any given time period. Making this task even more difficult would have been her duties as a southern hostess. Unexpected visitors were very common to the wealthy plantation owners. A writer that visited North Carolina during the Colonial period , "...found North Carolinians as hospitable as any people in the world and was of the opinion that they gave away more provisions to guests then were consumed by their own families" (Spruhill, 1938, p.37)
The mistress of a plantation would have been able to import cloth to be used by a tailor or seamstress in the making of the clothing for the household, or she might have bought imported clothing directly from merchants. The household likewise would have possibly purchased candles and soap from merchants, or they could have been made by servants and slaves at the home.
Finally, the woman of the house could well have provided the medical care of the household. "She not only doctored and nursed her patients, but sometimes even prepared her own medicines, rivaling the apothecaries in the concoction of salves, balms, ointments, potions, and cordials" (Spruhill, 1938, p.35).
The running of a plantation home would have involved supervising the cleaning, food procurement and preparation, providing hospitality to guests, attending the clothing needs of the household, the procurement and/or supervision in making basic household goods such as soap and candles, taking care of the sick, and child care.
Food procurement was a large and extremely important part of running a large household. The wife of a plantation owner would have had a garden, poultry, a dairy, and other livestock that she oversaw. She would have to manage the supplies of the items produced from these things, knowing how much poultry, pork, milk, eggs, etc. the household used in any given time period. Making this task even more difficult would have been her duties as a southern hostess. Unexpected visitors were very common to the wealthy plantation owners. A writer that visited North Carolina during the Colonial period , "...found North Carolinians as hospitable as any people in the world and was of the opinion that they gave away more provisions to guests then were consumed by their own families" (Spruhill, 1938, p.37)
The mistress of a plantation would have been able to import cloth to be used by a tailor or seamstress in the making of the clothing for the household, or she might have bought imported clothing directly from merchants. The household likewise would have possibly purchased candles and soap from merchants, or they could have been made by servants and slaves at the home.
Finally, the woman of the house could well have provided the medical care of the household. "She not only doctored and nursed her patients, but sometimes even prepared her own medicines, rivaling the apothecaries in the concoction of salves, balms, ointments, potions, and cordials" (Spruhill, 1938, p.35).