1. People used lamp light (vegetsable oil and more recently kerosene), light from the fire, candles, gas light (which is now obsolete), and light from rushes. There was a story about president Abe Lincoln studying by the light of the fire which was taught children. A lot of books mentioned studying by fire light. There are many stories mentioning oil, which was used for cooking and light, in the Bible.

2. Common people did not have lawns, they had nothing but dirt, or a small garden with flowers, or maybe some kind of paving. Only rich [eo[;e and nobles had patches of only soft lawn grass. Gardeners cut it with shears, on their hands and knees. Grass lawns are a fairly new feature of houses.

3. People seem to have always made roads. They were necessary. Small villages and farms would have only dirt roads which would get terribly muddy and filled with ruts, or covered with snow. Outside of Las Vegas, ruts from wagon trains driving across unpaved wagon roads are still visible in some places. The Romans built serious roads paved with layers of stone which are still in existence. If you go to Rome, you can still see the Apian Way and other roman building. These are around 2000 years old. In European cities, you can see streets and roads paved in cobble stones. In the early US people would build roads over their property, and charge for their use.

4. Before modern transportation, people commonly used horses, mules, oxen. There was another mode of transportation, called walking, which almost everybody used at one time or another. In fact, they still do in many parts of the world.

If you read a lot you will get excellent examples of how people coped with everyday needs.