Kitchen

Descend the back stairway to the first floor. At the foot of the stairway the doorway to your left leads to the Museum Shop which was once the kitchen. Around 1873, the Jones family installed the Arlington coal-burning range. The sink is original to the house with three faucets (hot, cold, and well water). A “dumbwaiter” in the corner was used to carry food up to the first floor from the summer kitchen located at one time in the basement. The room is currently installed with kitchen furniture, appliances and tools like those that would have been used during the Jones residence.

Because work started early and ended late at night, the kitchen in the Jones household was constantly occupied. Meals, work and conversation revolved around a large, wooden table in the center of the room. In contrast to more affluent homes, the young female members of the families who lived in this house would have worked alongside the employees, doing light housework, seasonal cleaning, sewing, and a limited amount of cooking. Although the Jones household had some form of refrigeration, frequent trips to the market were standard. The family also grew their own produce in the garden and at the family’s farm in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.