April, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Kitcbew 0^Tl)eOldei)Time 







J •• 











By Esther Singleton 



NE of the most attractive rooms in the 

 Colonial house is the kitchen. I'he logs 

 burn brightly in the great fireplace, their 

 flames flickering across the shining copper 

 and brass pots suspended from their cranes 

 and hooks above the fire, and throwing 

 bright reflections on the rows of polished 

 pewter dishes arranged symmetrically on the shelves of the 

 dresser in company with blue and white earthenware. The 

 high-backed settle placed at right angles to the fireplace in- 

 vites us to rest and watch the cook as she bastes the birds that 

 are roasting on the spits. Delicately prepared vegetables are 

 bubbling in the various pots and delicious sauces are simmer- 

 ing in saucepans. The fine breads, puddings, and pies that 

 have just been removed from the brick oven, stand on the 

 kitchen table covered with a fresh white cloth and contribute 

 not a little to the other appetizing odors. We feel sure that 

 when we retire to the dining-room, a very delicious dinner 

 will be served, accompanied, moreover, by choice Madeira, 

 Sherry, and Port from the host's well stocked cellar. 



In the Colonial period, the kitchen in the wealthy home 

 was practically the same throughout the country, except in 

 New York, where the influence of the Dutch is felt. At a 

 later period the New England kitchen becomes a general 

 family living-room, while on the Southern plantations it is 

 rarely visited except by the mistress of the house. In that 

 part of the country, a black deity, crowned with a bandanna 

 turban and attended by a retinue of under cooks and little 

 pickaninny scullions reigns supreme. Sometimes neither the 

 cook nor the kitchen are remarkable for tidiness, but the pots 

 and pans are scrupulously clean and the culinary results are 

 perfect. The children of the house are her chief visitors 

 and she welcomes them with assumed ill-temper, but de- 

 lightedly makes some special dish for them, — an "ash-cake," 

 wrapped in cabbage leaves and baked in the burning embers, 

 or a delicious "corn-pone," while the canvas-back duck is 

 roasting by the fire and the beautifully light "Maryland bis- 

 cuits" (beaten with a flat-iron), are baking in the "Dutch 

 oven." 



The early inventories and letters of travelers show that 

 there was much elegant and fashionable living in New Eng- 

 land. In the richer type of house, the hall, and not the 



kitchen, was the general living and reception-room. There 

 was also a parlor, which was reserved for privacy and for 

 intimate conversation. A typical hall, described in 1670, 

 in a home near Boston contained a rich table covered with 

 a "carpet," with "five joint stools under it," four leather 

 chairs, one small and one large joined chairs, four expensive 

 green chairs and green stools adorned with silk fringe, five 

 green wrought cushions, three chests, and a looking-glass. 

 I here are also a dining-room and a small parlor, and there is 

 a separate room for the kitchen. 



Another example will prove that the kitchen in an ordinary 

 home was a distinct room. In 17 18, Mr. John Mico, of 

 Boston, has a twelve-roomed house, containing a handsomely 

 furnished dining-room, a hall, which seems to be the living- 

 room, as it has in it eighteen chairs, a desk, and a "little tea- 

 table with china on it." The kitchen is furnished with a 

 pine table, six leather chairs, a looking-glass, and an oak 

 table. 



In restoring the historical houses in their possession, the 

 various patriotic and historical societies have appreciated the 

 importance of the kitchen; but in some cases their arrange- 

 ment of the old-fashioned cooking utensils has made the 

 room more of a museum than a practical kitchen. One of 

 the most successful is that in the Longfellow House in Port- 

 land, Maine, which was built in 1 785-1 786, and is here repre- 

 sented. This is as typical of our Southern as of our Northern 

 ancestors, representing a kitchen of the wealthiest class, in 

 which the meals were prepared by the servants for the fam- 

 ily. First, we note the large fireplace, with the ovens in the 

 wall, the crane on which the pots hang, the long spoons, the 

 gridirons, the tin-kitchens, the waffle-irons, etc., etc. Behind 

 the waffle-irons and tin-kitchen on the left stands a plate- 

 warmer with the door open showing the shelves on which the 

 plates were placed. On the extreme left, in front of a tin- 

 kitchen, is a foot-warmer, made of sheets of perforated brass 

 fitted into a wooden frame. Filled with glowing embers, it 

 was carried to church, to the theater, and also used in the 

 coach and in the rooms as a warm foot-stool. Beneath the 

 closet over the oven is a utensil for carrying hot coals. The 

 bottom of this is perforated. A similar one hangs on its 

 left above the tin-kitchen. Next comes a familiar poker, and 

 then follow a gridiron, a dish, a cup, candle-molds, a dish. 



