When I Was a Child......... (Winslow: house, floor, stats)

[contented]

hi everyone........

i hope you can help me remember the name of something that was put under the covers towards the foot of the bed in the winter to keep my feet warm.

it was a piece of granite i think (or possibly soapstone or marble) about the size of a laptop computer and about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. i remember that the edges were eased a bit and it had a steel handle mounted into drilled holes along opposing edges near one end.

it was placed on the wood cookstove after supper and it got plenty hot. my mom or dad would lay out quite a few used sheets of old newspaper on the floor or table and then get a potholder or two and grab the handle and place the stone on the papers. ( i would say the papers were about 1/4" thick when compressed)

then it was wrapped like a christmas present and i could lug it up to my bed and put it under the covers down towards where my feet would be. my nose and face would be freezing but my feet were warm as toast and i could fall asleep.

i remember my parents calling it a "freestone" but i googled that and struck out. do any of you have any rememberances of such a thing?

[toadling81]

People used these rocks for centuries, and they have so many names. At this link, you can see the definition for 'lap stone' or 'lap rock', which is similar to your stone:
Dictionary of Newfoundland English ... - Google Book Search
People used bricks as well, because they hold in the heat best - if the stone has any moisture content it can explode. Wrap the brick in a towel after heating it, and you'll be set! I think that paving stones could be used, as they are round and would cover more area at the bottom of the bed. I remember reading about folks using metal pans in England as bed warmers...here is a great thread with info:
Things that could substitute for old fashioned bed warmers...

[kellysmith]

It was soapstone. Probably had a wire bale on it and it would be placed on the top of a cook stove to heat up, then placed in the bed. In later days, those were replaced by hot water bottles. I can still see the one my grandmother used.

The soapstones were also used by folks riding in a sleigh or carriage pulled by a horse. Kept the riders feet warm by rapping it in a blanket an placing it by the riders feet.

[elston]

Grammy used a soap stone to warm feet and she had the old long handled brass bed warmer that held fireplace embers to pass over the ice cold sheets and take the chill off. (I don't know that she used it). She also had the little metal box to carry coals to church to warm the family box....but she no longer used that as the chrch got central heating somewhere along the line.

[contented]

thanks everyone for your responses. i guess these things have mostly become a thing of the past since thermostats were invented and the old parlor stove and cookstove were put on the dump.

[pc-not]

As a child the old hot water bottle got alot of use in our house. With six of us, earaches were one thing it got filled up for, and I still can vividly recall the "smell". Grandparents house had a brass bedwarmer hanging on a hook near the fireplace. Don't recall it ever being used. It was finely made with a well tooled hinged lid and a two foot long elaborate wooden handle.

[Maineah]

They have these neat things now called electric blankets!

[island mermaid]

My mom explained the bed warmers to me when I was little. They used bricks on the dairy farm where she grew up in Winslow. I remember her also explaining about them being used in the sleighs and carriages too.

[Maineah]

We tried bricks too but it was very uncomfortable sleeping on a bunch of bricks all night!

[island mermaid]

Honey....

Never mind.