Bundling, a custom in old New England and elsewhere in the northern colonies of early America, was the practice of unmarried people of the opposite sex lying in bed together with their clothes on. It seems to have been most prevalent in rural areas, especially among the poor, and may have been most widely practiced in the last half of the eighteenth century.

Intimacy Before Marriage, Practical Way to Accommodate Courtship

The custom seems to have been primarily a way to give sweethearts a bit of intimacy before marriage and to accommodate courting in cold climates. Consider a suitor who had walked miles in dreadful weather to be with his loved one and then stayed late. The choice for the young lady and her family was either turning the young man out into the dark and cold, or allowing him to stay overnight. In homes where there were no spare beds, he would have to sleep on a chair in front of the fire if he stayed overnight.

Bundling saved firewood and the young man's back. Of course, human nature being what it is, young couples did not always stay within the rules. If a young woman became pregnant, the young man was expected to marry her. Bundling or no bundling, such events were common enough. Historians have calculated that about one in three first-born children during parts of the colonial period were conceived out of wedlock.

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