Rural Life 1880-1920:
The Impact of Progress on Connecticut
Farming Communities

Farming: A Way of Life

Rural communities were irrevocably linked to the traditions and history of agriculture and the many businesses associated with farming. Well into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, almost every family farmed or was linked to a farming community.

< Even though farm families were often large and every member of the family from the youngest to the oldest had their chores, farmhands, here shown holding hoes and other farm implements, were often hired during the busy periods of harvesting and planting.

Tobacco Farm
Westchester, 1880s
Photo CD: 2799 File: Img0062.pcd

< Connecticut farmers grew many different crops for sale, including potatoes, apples, oats, hay, peaches and tobacco. At a later date, Connecticut farmers developed a speciality in shade-grown tobacco for use as cigar wrappers.

< Oxen were cheaper, stronger, and hardier draft animals than horses, which were primarily used for transportation. Most farm work was done by slow but reliable oxen.

< Constant hard work on a country farm made leisure time rare and highly prized. In this photograph, the boy and woman are shown engaged in work, but the man is reading a newspaper.

< Crop specialization, rising costs, and competition from fertile Western farms forced many Connecticut farmers off their farms and into financial ruin. An inscription on the back of this photograph of Andrew Pierce laments the disappearance of the man and his farm.

Link to other essays in this Journey:

>> Introduction: Rural Life in Connecticut
>> Civic Life
>> Goods and Services
>> Connecticut Agricultural College
>> Vacationing in the Country

>> Guideposts
>> Suggestions for further reading