In the early 1600's several companies of people left their homes in Europe and went to the New World. No two groups had exactly the same reasons for leaving. However, once they arrived, each was faced with the same problem: making a home and supporting itself in a wilderness, in unknown surroundings and an unfamiliar climate, and among Indians who might turn out to be enemies. Each company dealt with the problem in its own way.

What was life really like for the early settlers in the American wilderness? How did they make places for shelter? Where did they get their food and how did they cook it? What happened when the clothing they brought with them wore out? How did they get on with the native Indians?

In a book full of fascinating detail, Louise Dickinson Rich takes the reader back to the early days of Jamestown, Plymouth, Fort Amsterdam, and Fort Christina on the Delaware -- to four colonies, all different.

From the dust jacket