...Exploring West Virginia...the Craik-Patton House...Seven...

...now downstairs to the basement kitchen...

...our tour guide told us that they only realized this had once been a kitchen when they noticed the smoked floor joists...

...as was customary at the time...there was also a 'summer kitchen' in a separate building away from the house...this was to prevent fires and keep the house cooler in the summer...

...a note about the winter kitchen...

...there were several of the side tables...this one has a coffee grinder like the one Grandma gave me...

...and this one has a wooden bowl and some pewter plates...and a small cookbook...

...a small cupboard...

...an interesting butter churn and some crocks in a corner...

...a spinning wheel by the fireplace...maybe they had some free time in between meals to get some spinning done by the warm fire...

...a large chopping block...with some butter molds and a rolling pin...

...the large fireplace where most of the cooking was done...

...this note explains that the floor was brick...and the cooks would pull ashes and coals out onto the floor to keep food cooking at different temperatures...

...a central table and a hand carved wooden dough trough...

...a really interesting lantern with several 'spouts' with wicks...the guide said it provided quite a bit of light...

...some baskets and an ironing board in another corner...

...it was a very utilitarian kitchen...

~Have a lovely day!