Oh, yeah, Washington wrote those words. However, his sentence continued “a wine cooler for four bottles.” So it was a specialized container. In another letter he called this one “plated”—covered with metal, I assume.
Given the difficulty of refrigeration in the period, a container for cooling wine was probably a fairly luxurious genteel item.
Salem Loyalist Samuel Curwen spoke in his journal of the coffee houses in London. But these establishments were not what we see today:
"To someone in the 21st century, the term coffee house either conjures up memories of the local drive-through shop or images of dimly lit nightclubs frequented by countercultural poets and musicians. However, the 18th century coffee house was much more -- part social club, part embassy, and part hotel. The dozens of these establishments that could be found in London's financial district each catered to a particular clientele -- lawyers, stock brokers, actors and even merchants from the Thirteen Colonies."
Coffee houses were basically upper-class taverns. David Conroy's excellent study of taverns in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts found that Boston's leading coffee-houses paid more in excise taxes than any other business; in other words, they sold more liquor.
Who knew George was so hip?
ReplyDelete(O.K., JL: were these words actually written by GW? What was a wine cooler of his day? A cask?)
Oh, yeah, Washington wrote those words. However, his sentence continued “a wine cooler for four bottles.” So it was a specialized container. In another letter he called this one “plated”—covered with metal, I assume.
ReplyDeleteGiven the difficulty of refrigeration in the period, a container for cooling wine was probably a fairly luxurious genteel item.
THIS is an 18th century Wine Cooler:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pinterest.com/pin/98516310568554328/
Salem Loyalist Samuel Curwen spoke in his journal of the coffee houses in London. But these establishments were not what we see today:
ReplyDelete"To someone in the 21st century, the term coffee house either conjures up memories of the local drive-through shop or images of dimly lit nightclubs frequented by countercultural poets and musicians. However, the 18th century coffee house was much more -- part social club, part embassy, and part hotel. The dozens of these establishments that could be found in London's financial district each catered to a particular clientele -- lawyers, stock brokers, actors and even merchants from the Thirteen Colonies."
http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2011/Loyalist-Trails-2011.php?issue=201118
Coffee houses were basically upper-class taverns. David Conroy's excellent study of taverns in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts found that Boston's leading coffee-houses paid more in excise taxes than any other business; in other words, they sold more liquor.
ReplyDelete