Focus On Cooking
Blog Posts
- The Journals of Abby and Mattie Sanderson of Whately Glen
In the winter and early spring months of 1874 and 1876, Martha “Mattie” Ann Sanderson (1854-1933) and her mother, Abby H. Rice Sanderson (1829-1902), kept a journal of their work schedules, domestic cookery, farm production and inventories, sewing projects, daily weather reports, church and prayer meeting attendance and numerous other tasks… - It’s Fall! It’s Time for Cooking with Pumpkin
This is not a blog about pumpkin spice. While today we decorate our yards and front steps with pumpkins and gourds and drink coffee flavored with pumpkin pie spices, long ago the pumpkin and its relatives — winter squashes — were a staple and necessary food item that were stored and eaten over the long and cold New England winters.
- What’s for Dinner?: Examining the Tools of Hearth Cooking
Generations of cooks have known the daily chore of putting food on the table for anxious mouths. Today, we have little trouble readying and preparing food—even if the result might not be perfect. Few modern American spend time butchering hogs, plucking feathers off chickens, grinding corn, or milking cows to make a meal.
- Baby It’s Cold Outside: A Sweet History of Chocolate in New England
Although cacao trees don’t grow in our climate, chocolate has a long history in New England, given our close economic connections to the West Indies. New England merchants supplied barrel staves, lumber, onions, salt fish, salt beef, and horses to the Caribbean in exchange for sugar, molasses, rum, and cacao.
- Pass it Round: Festive Drinks for Holiday Cheer
In this installment of Maker Mondays we want to treat you to some recipes for holiday drinks that were popular in early New England.
Cooking Events
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Open Hearth Cooking Demonstrations: Seasonal Flavors, Local Produce
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstrations Taking place in the Hall Tavern Kitchen from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on the following Saturdays: July 12, 19, 26 August 2, 9 Seasonal Flavors, Local Produce […]
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Special Event: The Art of the Book—Exploring the Revival of Historic Book Arts
Join us for a day-long event celebrating contemporary and historic book arts.
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Family Program: An Open Book—Fun with Historic Book Arts
Join us as we hit the books this summer to explore different aspects of book arts and see what you can make.
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Fall Forum – Fashioning the Body: Dress in New England 1600–1900
Fashion has garnered great interest in recent decades and research into the history of clothing has yielded new insights into culturally embedded ideas around self-styling and the body. Yet, few studies have explored New England’s relationship with styling the body and fashionable dress. This forum will convene a group of experts in the field to…
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Building Archaeology at Stebbins House
Come take a walk through the Stebbins House during this unique moment in time when the house is under restoration! UPCOMING HOURS July 2-6 (9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) July […]
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Wilson Printing Office
Open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. (excluding lunch). Printer-in-Residence Martin Antonetti and other guides will be on hand to demonstrate the printing process for visitors!
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Flax to Linen Workshop
Flax is a fascinating fiber! In this hands-on workshop, you will explore flax with Peter Cook of Tare Shirt Farm (Berwick, Maine) and Michelle Parrish, Historic Deerfield’s staff expert on […]
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Free Hybrid Summer Lecture Series: Indigenous Histories and Material Culture
The 2025 Summer Lecture Series will take place both in person at the Deerfield Community Center and via Zoom from 7–8 p.m. (ET) on the following Thursdays: June 26, July 10, and July 17.
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Envisioning America: Deerfield Academy’s Collection of Paintings and Drawings
Deerfield Academy, a private boarding school located in Old Deerfield, possesses a rich collection of American art, ranging from colonial American portraiture to early 20th-century modernism. This exhibition highlights significant works of art from the Academy’s collection, many of which have not been on public view for decades.
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Body by Design: Fashionable Silhouettes from the Ideal to the Real
This exhibition will explore the enduring interest in clothing our bodies to achieve fashionable shapes. It will feature twenty-five ensembles from the 18th to 21st centuries drawn predominantly from Historic Deerfield’s renowned clothing collection. Displayed along with the historical garments will be the understructures – stays, corsets, hoops skirts, and bustles – that helped shape,…