Twentieth Century Life in these Houses: Cleaning her Iron

Cleaning Her Iron

Figure 52: Cleaning her iron

How many times Ms. Catherine must have come through this door out into the yard to clean her iron. She told how she cleaned it: “Rub it on sand in the yard to clean it. Wipe it on a rag." Back in those days, the yard was hard-packed, white sand that was swept clean every day. (Photo 1986)

Photo courtesy, African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina

Photo is from Amelia Wallace Vernon, African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University, 1993. Reprint. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1995), p.63.