What Cheer Day 2019: Sports & Games from the 18th Century

On Saturday June 1, 2019 at the John Brown House Museum, approximately 25 costumed historical interpreters  shared leisurely pursuits with visitors.

 The activities were family friendly and which included:
• Bowls, the colonial version of bocce/boule. 

• Rounders, an early variation on the sport we know as baseball.


• Games that soldiers enjoyed such as cricket. 

• Games that children played such as  hoop and stick, along with battlecock and shuttledoor. 


There were various stations featuring children’s toys, gambling and horse racing. 

There were a lady’s tea with lawn bowling, known as 9 pins in the 18th century,

 and a tavern illustrating various card games. 

Visitors could “step up to the plate” and try their hand at many of these family-friendly activities while learning about life in early Rhode Island and how people spent their leisure time.

 Additionally, a series of dedicated/scheduled afternoon activities that included:
• Dressing scenario in a lady’s riding habit.

• Hair styling and appropriate head wear for ladies when traveling.

* There was a demonstration on "How to make dolls from strips of material.

• Recreating a scene from a mid-18th century play about a popular card game.
 


What Cheer Day was free and open to the public. It took place on the lawn of the John Brown House Museum in Providence, RI.

 History Space is a Newport Historical Society initiative in partnership with the Rhode Island Historical Society.