Historic House (back)

Attached to the back of this house is the out kitchen.  Eighteenth-century Americans cooked most of their food in an open hearth fireplace, which produced a lot of heat inside the house.  The Wentz family used this out kitchen in the summer months for cooking, to keep the main house cooler, and all year long for messy chores, like butchering meat and making candles or soap.  Today, we use the out kitchen for cooking demonstrations, which you can see at events held throughout the year.

The house blessing, located on the out kitchen wall, to the left of the window, represented the German ancestry of the Wentz family, and the importance of religion to them.  Written in German, the house blessing says, “P.W. R.W., Jesus come into my house, never to leave again.  Come with thy blessed favor, and bring peace to my soul.” 

The water pump is a reproduction built over the early, hand-dug, 27-foot deep well.  The trough is believed to be an early piece of the property.  Note the location of this well to the house and out kitchen.  The early families living here did not have indoor plumbing, so this well made access to water close and easy.

On the back side of the out kitchen is a reproduction squirrel tail oven, in which the Wentz family would have baked their breads, pies, and beans.

Continue to the next stop by walking along the brick path and stopping in front of the woodshed, on the other side of the oven.