Debunking Myths on Site

During our closure, we uncovered the truth about a few myths we share. Luckily for us, we were correct about a few.
First off, there's that pesky "closet tax" myth. If you've been on a tour and heard us talk about why there were no closets (because they were taxed on the number of rooms they had), we've learned that this was not true. We aren't experts on 18th century property tax laws, but given that other homes had closets at the time, we are going to stop sharing this myth. Maybe William thought that Mary didn't need a closet?
Secondly, there's the confusing myth about why pipes were so long. We do talk about breaking off the ends of the pipes, but not for hygienic purposes, but instead to allow the smoker to continue smoking if tobacco was stuck in the pipe.We cannot find any conclusive evidence to support this fact either, so we will try to refrain from sharing it as well. What we did discover is that pipes were longer to provide a "cooler smoke."
But thankfully, we are sharing correct descriptions of weasels and firebacks!
How did we become interested in these myths? We were curious about the pineapple symbol, and wanted to know if we should include it on our new floor cloth. Sorry everyone, it's a myth too.

That being said, we are working towards removing these myths from our tour, and any that come up in the future! And if you're interested in other historic myths, check out History Myths Debunked.