French Florida?

Quebec, founded in 1608, was not the first French colony in North America.

The Florida coast was first sighted by Spanish explorer and treasure hunter Don Juan Ponce de Leon on Easter Sunday, 1513. He claimed the land for Spain and named it La Florida, which means "Land of Flowers".

The Spanish attempted to establish a colony in Florida several times between 1514 and 1564. Each attempt failed.
In 1564, about 200 French Huguenots founded Fort Caroline, on a bluff overlooking the St John’s river, on the east coast of Florida.
Perhaps many of these French men and women wished to escape the bloody religious wars raging in France. Others probably hoped that La Florida was as rich in gold and silver as Mexico and Peru.
For a little over a year, the French colonists suffered from over-work, hunger, sickness, heat, bugs, snakes, Indian attacks, and mutiny. They also caught the eye of the Spanish who considered the French colonists heretics, illegal squatters and a potential threat to Spanish treasure fleets which hugged the Florida shoreline on their return to Spain.
In August, 1565, a large French fleet arrived at Fort Caroline with much-needed supplies, munitions, and hundreds more soldiers and settlers. It seemed Fort Carolina would succeed!
At the same time, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Spains’s most-experienced admiral and newly-appointed Spanish Governor of Florida, arrived with orders to drive out any pirates and foreign colonists from Spanish lands.
After a brief skirmish with the French, the Spanish ships were forced to retreat down the Atlantic coast. They found a safe harbor 35 miles south of Fort Caroline and founded a settlement they named St. Augustine.
As an aside, St. Augustine, Florida, is still a vibrant community and considered the oldest permanent European city in North America.
The French ships, transporting most of their troops, were pursuing the Spanish fleet when they were hit by a hurricane. Most of the French fleet was sunk and many soldiers and sailors were drowned or marooned along the Florida coast.
While the French fleet battled the hurricane, the Spanish took the offensive. After trudging overland through driving rain, mud, and razor-sharp Palmetto plants, the Spanish attacked a surprised Fort Caroline garrison at dawn. Of the 200 to 250 French settlers and soldiers inside the fort, only 50 or so women and children were taken prisoner and a handful of soldiers managed to escape. The remaining settlers and soldiers were esscorted, a few at a time, to a nearby clearing where they were methodically “put to the sword.”
As for the marooned French sailors and soldiers, Menéndez and his Spanish troops found them unarmed, hungry, and disorganized. He ordered them to surrender. Assuming his men would be well treated, the French commander capitulated. Instead of mercy, Menéndez put all the French officers as well as several hundred soldiers and sailors to the sword at a place now known as Matanzas (massacres) Inlet.
The Spanish leveled Fort Caroline and built a new fort on the same site. In April 1568, Dominique de Gourgues led a French force which attacked, captured and burned this new Spanish fort. In revenge for the 1565 massacre, de Gourgues ordered all his Spanish prisoners slaughtered.
In a bloody era of religious wars, this New World atrocity shocked Europeans and ended French Huguenot hopes of establishing a Protestant colony in North America.
You see, until the British Conquest in 1759, only Roman Catholics were allowed to settle in New France (Quebec).

Log Cabin Kitchen

In the past, a log cabin home was a habitant’s first shelter. Trees were abundant and must be cut-down to open land for crops and fields. In time, as his family grew and prospered, a new, bigger home might be constructed. In this case, from the 1840s, the new home was a frame structure with wood siding. Our ancestors, being frugal, usually kept the old cabin and used it for other purposes. In this case, it is used as a cookhouse. The log chimney is interesting. You'd think a log chimney would be a fire hazard. But, the split wood shell you see serves only as support for a fire-hardened, mud-lined flue. This type of chimney construction is very old and was common in the English settlements of Jamestown and Plymouth. I assume, French settlements of the 18th century also used this construction where stone was not readily available . Cooking was a big job in the 17th and 18th centuries as families were usually large and additional hired hands might be fed at certain times of the year as they were needed to care for livestock, clear more land, tend fields and harvest crops. Nearly everything in the kitchen was made fresh daily.
Ummm, I can almost smell the 5 lbs. loaves of fresh bread baking in the outside oven!

New France Cooking

This is a modern 17th century log cabin kitchen. A microwave, stove, toaster or any other electric appliance is over 200 years in the future. Refrigeration and a freezer are only available in winter. A spring house can keep butter, cheese and other food products cool in summer. There is no inside running water, hot or cold. Lighting (other than that from the small window) is provided by the fireplace, a candle, or a whale oil lamp. If it is a warm day, you might prop open the door for more light. . . but that might let in the flies and bugs and critters. The fireplace serves as stove and a furnace too in the winter months. In the summer, mother might cook outside so her log cabin home isn't heated. What you eat depends on the season. This cabin was built close to the St Lawrence river. Much of the year, you could fish for your dinner. At certain times of the year, eels were so abundant they were called "Quebec Manna". At other times, the river was frozen. There was an abundance of wild game in the forest. You could hunt moose, bear, deer, rabbit or turkey. You might also raise farm animals like pigs, cattle, chickens and geese for food. Many Maple trees were tapped for syrup and sugar each spring. There were also farm crops like wheat, peas, cabbage and a number of herbs and vegetables. Wheat was ground into flour and made into large 5 lb loaves of bread which were baked in large outside ovens. Green peas were strung on strings and hung from the rafters to air dry. The French Canadians ate so much pea soup that they were nicknamed "Pea Souper".