Daily Life in the 18th Century

We can do it if we just work hard enough against all those modern inventions that are causing global warming. Join Al Gore and the environmentalists and help return the world to those wonderful pre-industrial days. Future generations will thank you (if it's not too late to turn back the clock).

America on the verge of revolution is envisioned by 21st-century Americans as the Colonial Williamsburg that thousands of tourists visit each year -- an America of quaint costumes, cozy Colonial-style restaurants, and fun displays and re-enactments.

In fact, though, daily life in the 18th century bore little resemblance to the "life" we see at Colonial Williamsburg. Being preindustrial, everyone but royalty and the upper-crust nobility of that era was oppressively poor by our standards.

Life before industry