Replica of 19th century kitchen crane

The daily life of soldiers at Fort McHenry included preparation of meals for nearly a hundred people. In the early 1800’s, the kitchens were located in the cellars of the Star Fort Buildings. Military records indicate that these underground areas were damp and often filled with standing water. By 1836, the underground cellars were closed and filled with earth and rubble and food was prepared in the fireplaces located in the first floor rooms of the barracks.

In 1958, Hubert Smith and a team of archeologists excavated the underground cellar in E Building to locate the early kitchen space. The exact area of the E building cellar is identified on the site base map. The notes from the excavation indicate that groundwater constantly leaked into the excavation site. Over six feet of earth and rubble were removed before they located the original fireplace and several cooking implements. A kitchen crane, like the one seen in the image above, was found in the cellar. It was made of wrought iron and used to hold a kettle over the fire. This crane is attached to a hinge secured to the fireplace wall and the arm holding the kettle can be swiveled away from the fire.*

Finding kitchen tools provided verification that the cellar area was used as a kitchen and that groundwater was still a serious problem. At the end of the project, the park intended to open this area to the public to demonstrate how meals were prepared for the soldiers in 1814. However, the water drainage problem proved to be complicated, and the cellar was once again filled in. The metal crane is stored in the archeology collection and was used as an example for replicas that have been made and placed on display in several fireplaces in the Fort. The original remains as the only visible evidence of early cooking practices at Fort McHenry.

*Reference:
Fields, Rachel.

Irons in the Fire. Ramsbury, England:: Crowood Press, 1984.