Pioneer Homes

The Bown House is thought to be one of the oldest stone houses in Idaho. Although it is now used as a living museum, you can still get a feel for what it must have been like to live in the home.

The parlor was also known as the "sitting room." Winter evenings were often spent quilting. Quilts were used to keep family members warm as they slept at night. Homes were not heated at night, for the fire died down at bedtime, and there was no central or automatic heatings such as we have now.

Quilts were usually made from odds and ends of material saved from from old clothing. One of your authors has a family quilt, nearly one hundred years old, made from pieces of mens' wool suits. This was clothing saved from various family members. More beautiful quilts were made from flowered and colored cotton materials. Quilts were sometimes used as gifts exchanged among family and friends when there was not money enough to buy "store-boughten" luxuries.

Quilt-making at the Bown House

The Bown House also has an intriguing kitchen. When you visit, you might also help peel apples and make biscuits. Be sure to look at all the old-fashioned kitchen tools and try to guess what they were used for. Quilt-making and cooking are just some of the hands-on experiences you can enjoy during a visit to the Bown House.

How did families cook their food in those days?
How many kitchen tools can you find in your family's kitchen that Temperance Bown
   would recognize if she were alive today?
Do you know someone who makes quilts? Why do they make quilts?
How is a quilt made?
Do you know someone who knits? Why would anyone knit today when clothing is so
   cheap?
There is a special word that means making lace? What is this word?
Hand-made items today are often similar to factory-made things that could otherwise
   be bought. What kinds of hand-made items have you seen people make? Why do
   people do this?

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