Maybe it’s the burgeoning slow food movement, but something about cooking in a brick oven without a thermostat, or over an open fire, sounds lovely. Then again, if the only way to get food to table was the slow, laborious way, I’d probably melt down as my sugar level plummeted. Still, I can imagine I’m a more patient person than I am, perhaps with an open day to spend preparing a feast in a walk-in fireplace, as the aroma of fresh-baked bread wafts through the air…Wouldn’t it be lovely?

If primitive kitchens get your fires burning, you can explore two kitchens of yesteryear via Historic New England on May 9, 2009 in Portsmouth, NH. Get a sense of how eighteenth and nineteenth century cooks got the job done. Visit the Wentworth-Cooldige mansion and its early French-style kitchen, complete with a potager, and the Rundlet-May home, which boasts a Rumford kitchen with a large two-shelf roasting oven, shallow fireplace, and three stew holes.

If you’re still hungry for more, return for the “America’s Kitchens” exhibit which opens June 11, 2009 at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, N.H.

Not yet sated? All of 2009 is the “Year of the Kitchen” at Historic New England. Visit their website to see if other kitchen-related events whet your appetite.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Recommended upcoming New England tours

Nantucket Christmas Stroll Annual Holiday House Tour (Nantucket, MA) Friday, December 5, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm (Call for ticket info 508.228.1700.)

New Bedford Preservation Society's Annual Holdiay House Tour (New Bedford, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 4:00 pm-8:00 pm and Sunday, December 7, 2008 1:00 pm-5:00 pm

Pilgrim Hall Museum Holiday House Tour (Plymouth, MA) Saturday and Sunday, December 6 & 7, 2008 10:00 am-4:00 pm

Christmas in Salem (Salem, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 10:00 am-4:30 pm and Sunday, December 7, 2008 11:30 am-4:30 pm

Stockbridge Holiday House Tour (Stockbridge, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm

Newburyport Holiday House Tour (Newburyport, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 10:00 am

Westport 22nd Holiday House Tour (Westport, CT) Sunday, December 7, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm

Bristol Home for the Holiday House Tour (Bristol, RI) Saturday, December 13, 2008 12:00 pm-5:00 pm

Woodbury 14th Anniversary Holiday House Tour (Woodbury, CT) Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:00 am- 4:00 pm

Woodstock Holiday House Tour (Woodstock, VT) Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:00 am-4:00 pm

There’s been progress over at Salem’s timber-frame project on Derby Wharf. Since I last wrote about the Pedrick Store House, much of the two-story, six-bay structure has been raised. It still awaits the rafters and ridge. A close look reveals where the more than 200-year-old, hand-hewn timbers have been patched as part of the National Park Service’s conservation efforts. Despite a little twisting here and there, the structure appears remarkably square overall. Stop by and take a look.

Also, if you're free Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 or 3:00 pm attend a timber framing demonstration on the Wharf. 

Salem, Massachusetts has a lot to offer besides witch kitsch. The National Park Service is doing their part to turn attention to Salem’s unique maritime and architectural history. They’ve acquired the 1770 Pedrick Store House from Marblehead and are reconstructing it on Salem’s Derby Wharf. They’ve sited it near the Friendship (the replica eighteenth century trader ship) so that once construction is complete, the two-story, timber-frame building and neighboring ship will suggest the way the wharf looked back in its heyday.

Thus far, the Store House foundation sills and deck pilings are in place. Several structural bents have been assembled, though not yet installed; they lie temporarily atop the foundation in the photo above. A free, public demonstration of traditional timber framing techniques was scheduled to be held at the Wharf yesterday, but was cancelled due to the stormy weather. Visit the National Park Service website to find out when it will be rescheduled. If you can’t make the demonstration, drop by anytime this fall to check on the status of the reconstruction. It’s a great alternative cultural activity for those daunted by Haunted Happenings.

You need to plan ahead, way ahead, to attend a tour of this legendary property in New Canaan, Connecticut. On a warm, sunny Saturday, nearly a year after I reserved tickets, my mother and I arrived at the downtown Glass House Visitor Center to embark on the tour. With my camera around my neck, I was informed at the front desk that photography would not be permitted during our visit. (I’ve since learned that tickets at a much steeper price allow their bearers to take pictures.) My disappointment was somewhat alleviated when the ticket taker gave us each an unexpected perk, a packet of 4 1/2 inch x 6 1/2 inch flashcards illustrated with images relating to the property on one side and explanatory information on the other. They were cleverly secured with a wide, silver rubber band, labeled “THE GLASS HOUSE” in elegant, black letters. My mother whispered to me that the rubber bands alone were worth the price of admission. Clearly she had pretty low expectations; she isn’t shy about dismissing Modernism.

We loaded into a van with eight others. Our tour mates had ordered tickets a year in advance too and were likely as determined as we were to see what the fuss is all about. Our guide, a pleasant grandmotherly type, in sensible shoes and a floppy hat, sat up front. She was a far cry from the young, fit, male guide, dressed in black, with thick-rimmed, fashion-forward glasses that you might imagine would lead such a tour. She was, however, a well-cast emissary for Modernism, setting the stage for a surprisingly non-threatening, intriguing, and even warm aesthetic. In several documentaries I’ve seen Philip Johnson do much the same.

A short ride later we came upon the property. You enter between tall brown, concrete pylons (which my mother described as tombstones) and below an enormous aluminum bar, triggered remotely, that travels vertically between the pylons. To me the gate felt like a retro vision of the future, which I suppose it was.

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