Caps and pelerines.

[mary]

Many folks have held that a lady always wore her cap and pelerine during waking hours. Indeed, there are portraits, accounts, and paintings that seem to support this assertion.

Likewise, there is evidence that paintings by Mary Ellen Best and William Sidney Mount which suggest alternatives to the "always" idea. Consider Mount's 1831 painting entitled "Dancing on the Barn Floor." Note that the young woman is without either cap or pellerine. If this painting was in color, you might see a red cloth worn across the chest of the young man. Might this be the young woman's pelerine?

And what is the matronly woman pictured in the rear of the scene up to?

Mary.

cgfa.sunsite.dk/mount/p-mount6.htm

[Laurel]

On the subject of perlerines I found this entry in
Historic Dress in America by Elizabeth McClellan. "For house wear the shoulders were usually uncovered, the bodices being finished with a tucker or frill of lace. Out-of-doors little capes or pelerines, either matching the dress or of a contrasting colour, were worn. . . . Deep collars, sometimes of plain linen but generally of lace or needlework embroidery turned down round the neck, contributed to the broad effect. Scarfs of cachemire, silk or lace were worn universally."

Laurel

[mary]

From James H. Eckles' narrative of the Hall sisters' abduction, we read:

After this sumptuous feast, we traveled on until we found we were near the fort at the Blue Mounds. White Crow then took Rachael's white handkerchief, or one that had once been white, and made a flag of it, raised it on a pole, rode on about one-half mile, and halted

I wonder... does this account speak of literally of a pocket "handkerchief," or was the cloth perhaps her pellerine?

Mary.