Post 4: The Price of Housing in the Eighteenth Century

While reading The Mistress of Riversdale, I noticed that Rosalie writes about the cost of a tobacco house that nobody would build for under two hundred dollars. I found this to be interesting and was wondering about how different prices were in the eighteenth century than they are today. According to History of Manufactures in the United States, building materials were much cheaper than they are today. Brick was only roughly $2.00 for a hundred bricks (Clark, 150). Lumber was about $10.00 for a thousand feet (Clark, 587). With these incredibly cheap materials and an average daily rate of 41 cents for a carpenter, the cost of building a tobacco house was pretty low (Clark, 48). However, the wages (as seen with the carpenter) were also much lower, so it was not an easy expense to cover.

Works Cited

Clark, Victor S. History of manufactures in the United States, 1607-1860. Washington D.C, The

Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1916.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293000945422&view=1up&seq=7