Colonial Clocks

Prior to 1700, clocks were pretty unreliable, and sundials were often used instead. Short periods of time were kept with hourglasses. Most farmers and frontiersmen relied on the position of the sun. The long pendulum clock, introduced around 1700, was the first one that proved to be generally reliable, and it became known as the long clock.

In America, the first clocks were shipped from England or Holland. Then some clock makers immigrated, and many of them settled in Pennsylvania. The Lancaster area became especially noted for their clock makers. During the first half of the eighteenth century, grandfather clocks inlaid with hex signs and scrolls were common. 

The clock makers only made the clockworks, which is called a wag-on-the-wall. The people who wanted their clocks in a case went to a cabinetmaker. In many towns, residents relied on the village clock, which was often put in the church steeple. My, how times have changed!    

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