Today we hear ads on the radio with plans and scams to get out of debt. Television specials spotlight families that are “debt free.” No one feels comfortable owing a person money. However, in the 18th century debt was looked at through a different lens. Cash was not readily available. Most people made all their purchases with credit, with no intention of ever paying it back with cash as we do today. It would be with the promise of goods or services later. Workers were also not always paid in cash; they could receive goods, land, or even rum in exchange for their work.

The inventory of John Carlyle’s household goods, taken after his death in 1780, lists “2 floor oyle cloths” valued at a total of 1 £. The “oyle” (oil) cloth, also known as a floorcloth, is a canvas floor covering, thickly coated with linseed oil and pigment. It is the ancestor to linoleum, patented by Englishman Frederick Walton in 1860. Floorcloths were designed to imitate the marble floors of the British elite.

In 1764 the British Parliament, desiring revenue from its North American colonies and looking to recoup money spent on the French and Indian War, passed the Sugar Act. The law increased duties on non-British goods shipped to the colonies. The very next year Great Britain issued the Stamp Act, which taxed newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and playing cards. It was the first direct tax levied on the American colonies. In 1764, the Parliament also passed the Currency Act, which prohibited the colonies from issuing their own money. Then in 1765, they passed the Quartering Act, which required the colonists to provide barracks and supplies to British troops.

In the past month Carlyle House has welcomed three new mannequins to its education collection. They are actively setup in the rooms to help interpret the whole story of the house. The objects, the furnishings, and the letters make it easy to interpret the Carlyle family; however nine other individuals called this house their home. The mannequins are there to represent the story of the enslaved population. The February newsletter had an article consisting of the information we know about the specific individuals that lived at Carlyle House. In March I attended a conference, Sifting Through Slavery: Archaeology and Interpretation of Agricultural and Industrial Slavery in the Mid-Atlantic and learned more about what life was like in general for African Americans in the 18th Century.

In 1747, the English naturalist, Mark Catesby (b. 1682, d. 1749) completed a series of watercolors which became the single most important reference of the flora and fauna in North America. It was titled The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. His work intended to illustrate and effectively communicate, a meaningful understanding of natural life in the New World. Published, copied, and finally purchased for King George III’s natural history collection, Catesby’s work offered a picture of the natural world of North America.

In a time when textiles were coveted and expensive, the bedding listed on John Carlyle’s 1780 inventory represents a wide variety of rich fabrics. One of the most interesting items, and one that is often overlooked, is the silk bed rug.

The archaeology of The Carlyle House is a lot like its builder’s history. As docents we are all aware of the close call the man who built the Carlyle House had with history. When it comes to the historical record, John Carlyle nearly disappeared. As it turns out, Carlyle’s imprint on the archaeological record is even thinner.

February is Black History month and a chance to reflect on the African-Americans who lived and worked at Carlyle House. With so many stories, facts and objects that focus on the Carlyle family, it is easy to forget the more silent voices of those who lived and labored here. This is a good time to listen closely to those voices, reflect on them and think about how their voices could become a part of your tour.

After a few years of docenting at Carlyle House and continuing to acquire knowledge of the 18th Century, I was reading Willard Stearns Randall’s George Washington – A Life (1997). I was in the middle of page 166, when history came close to home and my research project was born.

Female soldiers in the eighteenth century gained glorious recognition only if they first earned honorable identities as men. Hundreds of women cut their hair, donned men\'s clothing, and secretly joined the army. Each woman had her own reason for joining; each had different levels of success. The two most successful accounts, and the most celebrated, are those of Deborah Sampson and Hannah Snell. Both these women proved themselves able to fight, serve, and survive as male soldiers in an army and were able to virtuously re-enter the women\'s sphere.