The Log Cabin Living: Artifacts from 19th Century Life exhibit at Job Carr Cabin Museum encourages visitors to take a closer look at more than 20 objects in the museum's collection.
When visitors step inside Job Carr Cabin Museum, they find a cozy bedroom tucked in the back corner just off the main living area. When the Carr family lived in the log cabin, however, they would have arranged the furniture in a different configuration than it is currently set up for public display. In 1860s, there were two beds in the main room, separated from the living area by a curtain. If visitors were staying over, the upstairs storage loft was used as extra sleeping space. The following decade, the Carr family expanded the cabin with an upgraded kitchen addition at the back of the home. In the modern museum, this is where you will find the bedroom exhibit.
The bedroom display at Job Carr Cabin Museum, featuring an antique rope bed, steamer trunk, and bedside table.
The rope bed is the main piece of furniture in the museum bedroom. The sleeping area measures 48 inches wide and 72 inches from head to foot, slightly smaller than a modern full size mattress. The wooden bed frame includes a series of pegs along the rails. These pegs are spaced 6 inches apart and secure a rope that crosses back and forth to support the mattress.
Another common rope bed design had holes drilled along the rails through which the rope was threaded. Other log cabin rope beds were constructed with poles built directly into two adjoining walls and a floor-to-ceiling bed post supporting the outer corner.
Drawing of a rope bed. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.
The ropes required frequent tightening to prevent sagging, but they remained taut longer if positioned correctly. To start roping the bed, the rope was soaked overnight and dried. First, the rope was looped and placed over a top corner peg. Then, the rope was stretched to the foot of the bed and back to the head until all the vertical passes were finished. Next, the rope was woven from side to side until all the horizontal passes were complete.
View of the ropes tied at one corner of the bed on display at Job Carr Cabin Museum.
Next, the rope had to be tighten to take in the slack. This task was much easier to accomplish with two people working together. One person inserted a bed key or rope wrench between two of the rope pegs and twisted. The other person pulled the rope taut until the excess was removed. Finally, they tied a knot to keep the rope secure. This chore required a lot of strength and had to be repeated regularly to prevent the mattress from sagging.
Drawing of a bed key. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.
Although it is tempting to attribute the phrase "Sleep tight, don't let the bed buds bite" to the process of tightening a rope bed, this is most likely not the origin of this common rhyme. The first recorded use of this phrase is from 1866, but it was not widely used until well into the 20th century when rope beds were no longer found in most households. Metal bed frames made of brass or iron became popular in the late 19th century. It is more likely that "sleep tight" meant to wish someone to "sleep well" or "sleep soundly."
Drawing of the museum's rope bed by Trish Berry, a student at Highline Community College. Her sketch was inspired by an art class visit to the museum in 2017.
In the 1800s, many folks typically went to sleep at dusk since, without artifical light, not much could be accomplished. Candles and lanterns were expensive and not to be wasted. Until electricity was more widely available, some people practiced a ‘biphasic sleep routine,’ meaning that instead of sleeping in one long 6-8 hour block, they slept for two blocks of about four hours, with 1-4 hours of wakefulness in the middle. By the light of the moon and stars, they could use this time for prayer, chores, and even visiting friends or neighbors.
Take a closer look at the Museum's rope bed in this short video:
Sources
“Artifact Corner: 19th Century Rope Bed.” Kent Delord House Museum, Kent Delord House Museum, 30 June 2022, www.kentdelordhouse.org/artifact-corner-19th-century-rope-bed/.
“Bed Roping.” Colonial Sense, Colonial Sense, www.colonialsense.com/How-To_Guides/Interior/Bed_Roping.php. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.
Karstensen, Rebecca. "Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite - A Myth Debunked." Wylie House, Indiana University Bloomington Libraries, 18 Jan 2018, https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/wyliehouse/2018/01/18/sleep-tight-dont-let-the-bed-bugs-bite-a-myth-debunked/.
About the Author
Madeline Teddy completed an internship with Job Carr Cabin Museum in Fall 2023. She was a graduate of University of British Columbia majoring in history and classical Near Eastern religious studies. She hoped to take her studies further and become a museum curator.