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POMONA HALL IN WINTER
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Camden's historic Pomona Hall changes during the seasons to reflect the habits of the Cooper family that lived there in the 18th century. In winter, the cold side of the house is shuttered and largely unused. Family activity would have shifted to the mansion's southeasterly rooms that benefit from the morning-early afternoon sun and the continuously-burning fire in the open-hearth kitchen. | |
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The northeasterly-facing parlor has been closed down for the winter months, its furniture covered and pushed against the walls. The fireplace stands cold and unused. | |
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The warmer, sunny dining room has been transformed to reflect cold-weather use. The large dining table has been broken down, its leaves pushed against the walls, since visitors this time of year are few and far between. A wing chair from the parlor provides a comfortable place for the mistress of Pomona Hall to sit over her needlework next to the fire, the sun slanting in from the windows behind and next to her. | |
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A small Pembroke table by the hearth holds the remains of a simple midday meal prepared for Marmaduke Cooper and a business acquaintance who have met to review several maps and deeds that spill from the surface of a second small table. | |
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A servant has been interrupted while ironing the family's clothes in the warm open-hearth kitchen. The ironing blanket and cloth provide a smooth, padded surface for the iron, seen sitting on its trivet. And since her irons took a long time to heat, she has additional irons in the fire to speed up her chores and allow her to work without interruption. | |
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Up in the master bedroom, as the master and mistress of the house got ready to retire, a servant or slave would have passed the bedwarmer, filled with embers from the fireplace, over and between the sheets to take the chill off. The ornately-embroidered bed curtains would then have been completely drawn around the bed, trapping the heat and effectively making the bed its own small room-within-a-room. | |
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Another corner of the bedroom is dominated by an elaborate 17th-century chair that reflect's the family's British roots and colonial wealth.
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© 2001 - 2011, Camden County Historical Society | All Rights Reserved
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