This is a photograph of the kitchen in the Revere House. When Revere first bought the house in 1770, the house was already ninety years old and the kitchen was in the cellar. After the Revolution ended, Revere started a new business which made him more money than he had earned as a silversmith. He opened a foundry in which he cast bells and cannons. When he became more prosperous, Revere and his wife Rachel decided to make some changes to their home (just as adults do today!). Their biggest project was transforming a first floor room into a kitchen. Rachel Revere was probably delighted not to have to keep trudging down into the basement to cook.

In this photograph are many of the types of tools that Rachel Revere and her daughters used for a wide variety of chores. Can you find the:

1. Toaster - Making toast was a job often given to a young girl. She had to remember to watch carefully to ensure that the bread didn't burn!
2. Reflector oven - (a tool for roasting rabbits and chickens). Young girls often tended the reflector oven, turning the crank until the animal was cooked all the way around.
3. Iron - Because in the Revere's era, irons were made of solid iron, girls practiced with irons that were smaller than this one which weighs about ten pounds. If a five-year-old dropped one this heavy, it might break her foot.
4. Brazier - (a tool for keeping food warm after it has been cooked). In the winter, the Reveres may have eaten their evening meal in a second floor bedchamber, which in a house heated only with fireplaces might be much warmer than a first floor room. (Remember: heat rises.) It was nice to have a way to keep food hot upstairs until people were ready for second helpings.
5. Bedwarmer - (a tool for heating sheets before climbing into bed). Firewood was expensive even in the Reveres' time. When Boston was settled, few trees grew there. All of the wood for building and heating houses had to be carted or shipped in. As a result, people burned fires only in rooms they were using. If the Reveres hadn't used a bedchamber for eating or sewing during the day, it might be nearly the same temperature as the outside air and the sheet might feel like ice. It was nice to take off the chill by heating them with a bedwarmer filled with hot coals.

For the answers: Point to items in the photo and click on them. The name of the item will appear.

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