It was Summer, so it's Time to Move the Kitchen

ONE SUMMER KITCHEN CAN BE FOUND IN CORNER OF THE PAST
 

Living in the South, tomato sandwiches and iced sweet tea are summer supper staples. It’s just too darn hot to even think about heating up the kitchen, even with the AC cranked down to a suitable 65° F.

So, the thought of what it must have been like for women way back when to do all their cooking, preserving and other daily chores over live fire just melts my face right off. By the time you went to bed, the house possibly could have settled to a balmy 80° had the kitchen been located inside the main house.

Much to my delight are the traditions of a summer kitchen from bygone days. And, there’s one in particular up in this neck of the woods that offers experiences throughout the season for locals and tourists alike – Corner of the Past Museum.

Just off Highway 57 in Sister Bay, the Corner of the Past Museum is working to keep the area’s history alive for generations to come, and volunteer historical researcher Susan Armour is ready to help tell the tale.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm in the community. Instead of tearing something down, they would give us a call,” Armour explains how the Sister Bay Historical Society began their collection for this living-history homestead.

The museum’s main house is original to the property and is a pretty little cottage dressed in earth tones with a wooden shingled roof. The dinner bell out front alongside the bricked path would have been music to folks’ ears after a hard day’s work. Inside the house you can learn what settlers’ lives would have been like during the 1800s. Step out back and you’re invited to explore the collection of restored structures on site, like the barn and chicken coop.

To the left of the house on the north side is where the summer kitchen resides. More than a century old, the structure was donated by sisters Carol and Ann Larson and Mary Lou Smith in 2006. It originally sat on the old Andrew Knutson Farm in Sister Bay, out on Beach Road down by the water. The Knutson family migrated from Norway and landed in Ephraim, eventually settling in Sister Bay during the 1860s. Armour remembers uncovering the family’s history, “I almost felt like I was walking in their shoes.”

There are numerous accounts of the Knutson family hosting church socials down by the water for the Sister Bay Moravian Church. And, I’d be willing to bet a pan of biscuits from that summer kitchen was put to good use by the local casserole brigade. Well, maybe not casseroles, but I hope you’re smelling what I’m baking.

Fashioned from indigenous wooden logs and shingles, this summer kitchen has ample size, with a small storage space in the back for wash tubs, pots and pans, and other “modern kitchen appliances” of the day. There’s an icebox and a small metal utility table with the wash basin straight to the back of the kitchen. The middle of the room would have generally been kept clear with the exception of the wood-burning stove. Think of this space as a multi-purpose room where even the smelly jobs like laundry and sausage making were on the regular. There would not have been a pantry inside, as the space was too small to accommodate such luxuries. Most everything was stored in the main house, such as potatoes in the root cellar and herbs drying in the attic.

Still, the garden and livestock would have been close by when today’s farm-to-table moniker was standard fare and food was grown on the farm.  Just think how many Fitbit steps you could have earned merely by walking back and forth to your pantry for a day’s worth of cooking. Needless to say, kitchen therapy would not have been such a convenient “release” as it is for today’s home cooks.

Oh, but what a feeling of accomplishment it must have been to make something from nearly nothing.

“Norwegians, Scandinavians and Germans came to the area with very little money and lots of brawn,” says Armour. “There were thick forests that they would have had to go to by the water to settle. Then they had to chop the trees down and build their home. Clearing the land was difficult. So, they would have worked with one another to do so. That practice went well into the mid-1900s by sharing farm equipment and labor.”

Armour began her ancestry quest by tracing her Northern Indiana roots. It wasn’t long until she was doing the same for friends, and eventually for the historical society. Property deeds and family interviews remain her main resources when confirming the particulars.

“The records and land documents aren’t as clear as you might think from back then,” she explains, meaning she must dig a little deeper if she’s going to get to the meat of the matter. There’s a certain changing of the guard in Sister Bay these days, according to Armour.

“We are a small community and very much a tourist community. We have a lot of young business owners who are all very enthused by their businesses in those old historic buildings.”

By hosting events like trivia night at Northern Grill, a weekly summer farmers market and other outreach events, the Sister Bay Historical Society’s attempts are paying off. Due to their interactive outreach, the median member age is indeed lowering.

“We are not a bunch of old stogies sitting on old dusty books,” Armour says. By bringing the society’s mission into the 21st century, she believes the history of traditions like summer kitchens will persevere for younger generations.

“After all, that’s who we are doing this for,” she says. 

It was Harry S. Truman who coined the phrase, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” well before his presidency as a suggestion to step aside if you just can’t take it anymore. Words to live by, I suppose. But, had early settlers merely stepped aside, how in the world would they have survived?

Next time you find yourself schvitzing over a little summer heat, evoke the spirit of those pioneer women and know that all is well with your soul.