Figure 47. — Foundation of Structure E (kitchen). 



Tlic uoith hail of Room \' was filled with broken 

 bricks, mortar, plaster, nails, and — significantly — 

 small bits of charred wood and burned hornets' nests. 

 The concentration of debris here could be explained 

 by the collapse of the chimney as well as the interior 

 wall into the room. The crimibly condition of the 

 southwest portion of the exterior-wall fovmdation also 

 may indicate a wall collapse. Few artifacts were 

 recovered in this area. 



North of Room X lay a large amount of rublile and 

 artifacts, suggesting that the north wall had fallen 

 away from the building, perhaps carrying with it 

 shelves of dishes and utensils. Both rooms contained 

 ample evidence in the form of ash, charcoal, burned 

 hornets' nests, and scorched flagstones to demonstrate 

 that a fire of great heat had destroyed the building. 



ARCHITECTURAL DATA AND INTERPRETATION 



John Mercer's account with Thomas Barry (I^edger 

 G) itemizes for 1749, "building a Kitchen/ raising a 



C'hiumex ' building an o\en."' It is clear Irom the 

 features of Structure E, its relation to .Structure B, and 

 the custoni prexalcnt in colonial \'irginia ol building 

 separate dependencies for the preparation of food, that 

 Structme E was the kitchen referred to in Barry's 

 account. Like this building, kitchens elsewhere were 

 almost invariably two rooms in plan — a cooking room 

 and a pantry or storage room. One of the earliest — 

 at Green Spring — had a large fireplace for the kitchen 

 proper, and in the second room a smaller fireplace, 

 both served by a central chimney. An oven stood in- 

 side the building between the larger fireplace and the 

 wall.'" At Stratford (ca. 1725) the kitchen is simi- 

 larly i)lanned, as it is at Mannsficld (Spotsylvania 

 Gounty).'"' Mount \'crnon has an end chinniey in its 

 kitchen, and only one fireplace. The floor of the 

 kitchen proper is pa\'ed with scjuare bricks, while the 



'^" C.'WWOOD, loc. cit. (footnote l.'Jl). 

 158 W'aterman, loc. cit. (footnote 'J4). 



102 



