The women pictured are dressed in typical woman’s attire during colonial times.

The shirts they are wearing are called short gowns, and the skirts are called petticoats.

Instead of elastic or zippers like we have today, the garments had tie strings or they used pins to keep them closed and fitted.

They wore caps to keep their hair clean, and kerchiefs around their necks to cover their mouths from dust and to wipe their face and brow.

The undergarment women wore was called a shift dress. The shift dress was also the woman’s nightgown.

The skirts did not have pockets like we have today. The pocket is what they called a sack they tied around their waist.

Items you might find in a woman’s pocket would be knitting needles and yarn, buttons and needles to sew, dried food, and a fire starter kit with flint, a steel striker, and tow.

The men would wear a long linen shirt that went down to their knees.  It was an undergarment and it was worn as a night shirt when they went to bed.  The buttoned vest worn over the shirt was called a waistcoat.

The short pants they wore were called breeches.  Farmers and those who worked outside wore long trousers.

The men who worked outdoors would wear wide brimmed straw hats to keep their faces protected from the sun.