Although new furniture
styles came and went even in Upper Canada, they had little effect on the traditional approaches to cradle-making.
Simplicity seems to have been the general rule; the only evolution was from an earlier squared box construction
to flared sides and ends, which the Lattimor House cradle pictured here uses. Red was a popular colour.
Hooded cradles were probably developed for the same reason as high-back settles and wing-back chairs: to protect the occupants from drafts. Craftsmen often expended some creative energy to add decorative elements to the hood. Also notice the scrolled ends of the rockers in the reproduction pictured to the left; this was also typical of Upper Canada cradles.