Housewives in cities realized the benefits of municipal water and lighting systems long before their mountain counterparts. Goods and services of all kinds were also close at hand in a city. Where did rural women purchase necessities they couldn't make at home? Peddlers (with packs on their backs or in wagons) and mail order houses supplied many of their needs.

Feeding a family, however, may have been easier in some ways for women in the Adirondacks. A wealth of berries, fruits, venison, and trout waited only the know-how and energy of the Adirondack housewife.

"Mrs. Larry has been here to help us wash today and I have enjoyed the fun of hearing her talk," wrote Rosannah Wheelock on July 5, 1858. Laundry was a complex and difficult responsibility for the rural housekeeper.

Hearth and Home was a periodical that first appeared in December, 1868. The July, 1874 issue offered a "simplified" approach to laundry that included the following steps. First, soak clothes in cold water for six hours after rubbing all seams with soap. Next wash all items in tepid water and wring them out. The laundry should then be brought to a boil. More tepid water followed the boiling -- again to be thoroughly wrung out. A cold rinse with a "light" bluing completed the procedure - followed of course by wringing.

The Adirondack housewife who tried the "simple" method for home laundry would have made her own soap. She would gather the firewood needed to build a good hot fire and carry water from pump, well, spring house, stream, or lake. The process was backbreaking and unending.

"I have worked all day. Flora (a sixteen-year-old daughter) also made pies & doughnuts. Ironed and got meals. Work. & work. The same thing day in and day out. What is the use of writing it all down."