In the days of colonial settlement through the years of the early republic, dancing was the "principal and foremost amusement" in both city and country. Barn dances played a significant role in the social life of rural Vermonters, most commonly serving as the high-spirited conclusion to the "bee." This popular combination of work and play grew out of Vermont settlers' desire to help friends and neighbors in their communities with large scale tasks such as logging, house and barn raising, corn husking, apple paring and, later in the 19th century, harvesting hops. Husks or apple parings were cleared from barn floors to allow young and old to join in lively country dances and general frolicking. This now centuries-old tradition and variations such as kitchen junkets, were captured in engravings by 19th century artists, such as The Apple-Bee (above, 1859) and Husking the Corn in New England (right, 1858) by Winslow Homer , played no small part in the lives of early Vermonters.

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