HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY DEPT.
The Charleston City Library has a link to Milord’s description of Charleston: https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/lord-adam-gordon%E2%80%99s-description-charleston-1765
Remember His Lordship’s etchings, including this one of Harlem from the Bronx:
“The city of New York has long been held at home the first in America,
— Lord Adam Gordon
though it neither comes up to Philadelphia in beauty, regularity, size, or the
number of its inhabitants and houses. Of the last there are under 3000 at this
time, about 300 stores, 12 churches and places of worship, and perhaps 20,000
inhabitants. Here are more Negroes than in any northern province, and by being
the seat of government, civil and military, and the place to which all the money
for the exigencies of America is sent from Britain, is rich. The situation of it is
cool, being on a point formed by Hudson’s River, which runs up many miles
and is navigable above Albany, and by East River or Sound, which dividing the
main from Long Island runs towards Boston and Rhode Island and forms an
inland navigation safe and very commodious for many miles. Over against the
town to the eastward lies a part of Long Island, which has been long peopled;
the soil of it is naturally light and sandy and almost worn out, yet the old
inhabitants are loath to quit this hold, on account of its remarkable healthiness
and pleasantness….
The land in the neighborhood of York is naturally as bad as can be and as full
of stones, but the great demand for all stock and necessaries, as well for
themselves as the shipping, renders it worth-while to improve all that is within
reach of the town, or within reach of the banks of either of the two rivers on
which it stands.
On this road you meet with houses and villages all the way to Boston, which
stands on a peninsula with a narrow neck or causeway, which is the only access
by land to it. [Boston] has been settled [one hundred thirty-five years]—next to
Virginia—has in it 2100 houses, many of which are better, more spacious, and
more commodious than those I saw either at Philadelphia or New York. They
all have gardens, and within it is a Common and a Mall, and two remarkable
rising grounds called the Beacon Hill and the Fort Hill. From these you
command all the town, the harbor, the Castle, the River Charles, and all the
country, and I doubt much if there is in the world a finer or more variegated
prospect. The Main Street is two miles long, leading from the gate all the way to
the ferry which plies over Charles River to Charleston, a very pretty village
rather older than Boston and very well served.
The number of inhabitants in town are supposed to be about 23,000; in the
Province of Massachusetts, 350,000, and about 10,000 fit to bear arms, but this
calculation is rather high. This is more like an English old town than any in
America. The language and manner of the people very much resemble the old
country, and all the neighboring lands and villages carry with them the same
idea. The better kind of people in and near the town seem well bred and
sensible. They lament their present plan of government, which throws too
much weight into the popular scale; they know by experience the bad
consequences attending that circumstance. When the Stamp Duty was first laid
by act of Parliament in 1765, the first and most flagrant acts of opposition to it
and of riotous and licentious spirit in the mob broke out here and were fatal to
the house and property of their Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Hutchinson.…
Although the face of the country is very rough and stony about Boston and
some miles round, yet it is a most healthy climate and kindly soil, producing
every European grain and root in plenty and perfection, besides Indian corn. I
never saw such quantities of apple and pear trees; all the roads are lined with
them. The poorest farmer or rather proprietor has one or more orchards, and
cider is their common drink, although they grow good barley and hops grow
there, everywhere, with little trouble or culture, more large and high than any I
remember in Surrey. Cider is so plenty as to sell at a dollar a barrel, cask
included—34 gallons.
The men here resemble much the people of Old England, from whence most
of them are sprung. I was rather surprised to find here, and not amongst the
richest, the respectable names of Howard, Wentworth, Pelham, Pierpoint,
Dudley, Carey, Russell, Temple, and many others of less note and ambiguity;
but the levelling principle here everywhere operates strongly and takes the lead.
Everybody has property and everybody knows it…”
Also very interesting is Lord Adam’s description of colonial Virginia:
“I am well assured by gentlemen whose veracity I can depend upon that the
— Lord Adam Gordon
back country of Virginia, particularly towards Lord Fairfax’s property, is as fine
and rich land as any in the world, producing all kinds of grain and grass in
perfection and great abundance, being also extremely temperate as to climate
and having scarce any mosquitoes or other troublesome insects. The soil of the
lower part of Virginia is light, though often a whitish clay at bottom, producing
the best tobacco in the world and many other useful crops. From the high duty
on that commodity its value is fallen, and many people are going upon hemp,
which it is hoped may succeed if the bounty is continued.
This province was the first settled of any on the continent; it has always been
a loyal one. The first settlers were many of them younger brothers of good
families in England who for different motives chose to quit home in search of
better fortune; their descendants, who possess the greatest land properties in
the province, have intermarried and have had always a much greater connection
with and dependence on the mother country than any other province, the
nature of their situation being such from the commodiousness and number of
navigable rivers and creeks that they may export to and import from home
everything they raise or want from within a few miles of their own houses and
cheaper than any neighboring province could supply them.
Money is at present a scarce commodity. All goes to England, and I am much
at a loss to find out how they will find specie to pay the duties last imposed on
them by the Parliament.…
Upon the whole, was [it] the case to live in America, this province in point of
company and climate would be my choice in preference to any I have yet seen.
The country in general is more cleared of wood, the houses are larger, better,
and more commodious than those to the southward, their breed of horses
extremely good and in particular those they run in their carriages, which are
mostly from thoroughbred horses and country mares. They all drive six horses
and travel generally from 8 to 9 miles an hour, going frequently 60 miles to
dinner. You may conclude from this their roads are extremely good.…
The roads in colonial Virginia good? Compared with Scotland, yes, they were, probably! And speaking of Fredericksburg: one of its colonial citizens was John Paul Jones, a plucky Scottish immigrant. Like many Scottish immigrants in the Virginia piedmont, temporarily trying to make it as a landlubber and a planter and a man of business (the river view, above, was roughly in his back yard.) Patient Reader, he returned to the sea.
“JOHN PAUL SCONES”
CREAM SCONES WITH CURRANTS
from THE AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN Family Cookbook, REVISED EDITION (2006)
MAKES 8; PREP TIME: 5 minutes; TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes
This most traditional scone has a biscuit-like texture obtained by using both butter and heavy cream. The easiest and most reliable approaclh to mixing the butter into the dry ingredients is to use a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Resist the urge to eat the scones hot out of the oven. Letting them cool for at least 10 minutes firms them up and improves their texture
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and chilled
1/2 cup currants
1 cup heavy cream
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Pulse the fjord with a few slightly larger butter lumps, about 12 pulses.
2. Add the currants and quickly pulse once to combine. Transfer the dough to a large bowl. Stir in the cream with a rubber spatula until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.
3. Turn the dough and any floury bits out onto a floured counter and knead until it formsa rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Press the dough into a 9-inch cake pan. Unmold the dough and cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake until the scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
The Valley Village View 