EYE ON ANTIQUES: STRINGING PATTERNS OF PEARLS

Lace-like jewelry fashioned from tiny pearls remained in vogue with American women from the late 1700s through the 19th Century. Collectors can still find examples.

Jeanmarie Andrews

A NEW LIFE FOR THE OLD HOMESTEAD

Not only did Bob and Susan Highfield save a 1739 Pennsylvania log house, they earned a place in the family of the builder’s descendants.

Linda Harbrecht

SMALL BUT NOT FORGOTTON

In the reconstruction of the 1782 Jesse Rice house, Old Sturbridge Village demonstrates how most early Americans lived in spaces far smaller than we care to imagine.

Holly V. Izard

A GLASSY PENTHOUSE OF IGNOBLE FORM

More than shelter for exotic plants, colonial greenhouses built with columns and porticos mimicked the architecture of America’s wealthiest estates.

Dennis J. Pogue

DESIGNERS’ ROUNDTABLE: DECORATING A PERIOD BATHROOM

Experts in period design show how to integrate this necessary anachronism into your historic home.

Winfield Ross

LIFE IN EARLY AMERICA:

From taverns to backwoods cabins, Americans of every social and economic class played cards despite repeated efforts by church and civic leaders to ban the vice.

Amy Poole

FROM SERVITUDE TO PUBLIC SERVANT

America’s first elected black man served in the 17th-Century Maryland legislature, a mixed-race sailor who worked his way up from slavery.

John F. Millar

SIDE-BY-SIDE: CHIP CARVING

Skilled artisans chipped away flakes of wood to decorate everything from cathedrals to Bible boxes. Today’s makers continue the folk art tradition.

Gregory LeFever