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 click house for tour main page The current galley kitchen was expanded around 1980, when a partition closing in a small hired-hand's bedroom at the front was removed to create one large rectangular space. The kitchen table now stands where the hired hand slept. The pictured set kettle was a modern convenience introduced to public houses around the turn of the 19th century, a sink of sorts that provided a quick hot-water source to help with tavern chores. Set kettles were introduced to the more elaborate American homes around 1840. A fire was burned in the brick hearth below a 10- to 15-gallon brass bucket to keep a supply of hot water on hand around the clock. It was filled with water from the adjacent interior cistern, which drew its water supply from rain and snow-melt that was funneled off the roof and down tin piping that still remains intact. The water was first drawn from the cistern in buckets, then with a hand pump. Most set kettles were removed and interior cisterns covered over during post-World War II home renovations, but these interesting features were remarkably spared at Old Tavern Farm. |
