AUNT DOT’S KITCHEN
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road…
Mae Hutchinson on the porch outside Aunt Dot’s kitchen
When I think about some of the formative images from my early years, in this case, ones that pertain to hospitality, home design and good food, I often think of Aunt Dot’s Kitchen. This is a piece I wrote years ago, lost it, and then recently found it (I’ve gotta improve my filing system). I also want to thank Brenda Hutchinson Higgins and Larry Hutchinson for providing photos of their mother’s kitchen and views from the front porch. We had a great time going through old pictures and retelling stories.
Aunt Dot’s Kitchen
As far as I could tell, there were only two parts of the farmhouse that were really used; the wrap around front veranda where all the outdoor socializing and “watching the traffic go by” occurred, and the all purpose heavy use kitchen-hub. The center of activity in the kitchen was the white enameled cook stove. It was an oil burner stove so the flame was always on and I remember the kitchen being warm and cozy, often with the smell of fresh baked bread in the air. Aunt Dot used to like to pull the oven door down, spread a newspaper over it and then kick her feet up to keep them warm. The idea of having your furnace right in the middle of your living space made good sense to my eight year old thinking. Above the kitchen table was a picture of a good looking man prominently hung on the wall, which I assumed was one of my relatives. Several years later I figured out it was president John F. Kennedy. Apparently, my Aunt Dot was one of the few Democrats in our family.
Old-fashion wooden cupboards ran along the wall and a 1940s style washing machine sat in the corner. As soon as my sister and I came in the door, Aunt Dot would check to see if we wanted a cookie from her cookie jar and I don’t think we ever said no (we knew exactly which cupboard she kept the cookies in). Even at that young age I had noticed that while most adults put the cookie jar on the top shelf, Aunt Dot put hers on the bottom shelf so even the smallest person had easy access. Molasses cookies were always in stock and usually some variation of a white sugar cookie filled with jelly or jam. Her cookie jar was never empty. The teapot was always on the stove and readily available, no matter what time of day. It was a tea household, relegating coffee to a secondary status. My father would joke with Aunt Dot and say, “I don’t mind drinking weak tea, but I didn’t want it helpless!”
At the far end of the kitchen was a couch where my 90 year old grandmother spent most of the day. She lived with my Aunt Dot and Uncle John, so a visit to see them was also a visit to see my grandmother. It was also a chance to play with our cousins. My cousin Larry was older and had already left home to study music, but Brenda and Kent and additional cousins across the road were always willing and ready to play. There was also a good-natured, if not slightly overweight, dog named Juliette and this rounded out our playful group. A small black and white TV set with rabbit-ear antenna was located in the corner of the kitchen, along with a rocker and some extra seating. There was no reason to go past the kitchen. Everything was right there! I remember visiting on a Saturday night in winter, the Jackie Gleason Show playing on the TV in the background (kind of the sixties version of Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion playing on the radio on a Saturday night). There was the usual social banter, a few jokes and hot drinks and then the cold drive home in our family station wagon. When I look back, what is it that made that memory stick some forty years later? Perhaps it’s the nostalgia; the misty, blurred images and emotions of years ago that we carry with us. As we reminisce, the bits and pieces of our life stories resurface and they accompany us as we continue on our way. Here’s to forty years of Aunt Dot’s kitchen.
In the woods,
Dave
July 26, 2023
Aunt Dot and Uncle John in the kitchen (1968)
The family kitchen table (notice JFK picture on the wall)
Larry Hutchinson holding Kent and Brenda
Aunt Dot’s sister Harriet Britton holding baby Brenda
Grammie Hutchinson on the veranda…
Love love love this backwoods blog post. You led with the one image of great grammie Hutchinson that has remained in my mind all these years. I can just remember her on the kitchen cot when we’d go to visit. I think this time of year my feelings of nostalgia run high so thank you for sharing these words and beautiful images. A physical life but details like wooden posts and corner pieces on the wrap around porch show such attention to beauty was also a part of life.
That is just a wonderful recollection. The picture of JFK on the wall, suggests quite an independent Aunt Dot. And your father’s not wanting his tea to be “helpless” is priceless.
Wonderful, David. You captured Aunt Dot’s kitchen and her hospitality perfectly. Great memories!
David, You captured Moms kitchen to a “tea”! Your memory of everything is so accurate- Mom would be pleased! So enjoyed our get together and all the reminiscing! Thanks! Brenda
Great post Dave! I remember similar visits to Dot & John’s. While we were lucky to have Grammie Lottie, who was also an excellent cook and baker, who also always had both molasses cookies and another type (often “toll house”, but sometimes jelly filled) on hand, though as you note, she was one who kept the cookie tins on a high shelf in the basement stairwell. [I suspect not so much to keep them from little hands, but for better storage in what must have been the coolest part of the house]. I do recall well when we were finally tall enough to reach the shelf on our own…
However even my grandmother professed that she could not make donuts and would praise Dorothy for making absolutely the best donuts ever – freshly made with just the right balance of still warm but slightly firm exterior and a delicious interior. Maybe it was because we usually visited in the daytime, but it is Dorothy’s donuts that I remember the most (and looked forward to) on visits to their house.
I also remember wondering why they never used the living room and where did they sleep? We also always stayed in the kitchen, or the porch in summer, and I recall that Great Grammie’s bedroom was just behind the kitchen, so that she did not have to climb stairs.
A couple of other memories from visits to John & Dot’s – one year we got a toboggan for Christmas and that year the snow conditions happened to be just right (perhaps too good…) for that type of snow sliding gear. We took it to Dot and John’s, to try it out on the field behind their house. If memory serves correctly the snow was a bit packed down with a nice icy glaze on top – I do not recall Brenda being with us, but Kent definitely was, and maybe the Lowrys from across the road. That toboggan took off like a shot and we flew down that field at a speed that scared even us, normally fairly dare devil when it came to sliding over snow. I think someone got hurt slamming into the front of the toboggan when we finally came to a rather abrupt and hard stop, but I don’t remember who it was.
Another time we were visiting in the summer and playing outside – there was a hand cart (one of those two-wheeled ones that I think were mainly used to move fertilizer bags around) out on the lawn. Well the edge wasn’t particularly sharp, but I managed to trip over it and put a nice but fortunately not too deep gash in my knee. The scar was visible for years before it finally faded – a reminder of great times with cousins, aunts and uncles.
Thanks for the memories!
Fran
Great blog post!!
Boy, do I remember that kitchen and the veranda. And Grammie Hutch and Aunt Dot. I remember getting “beyond” the kitchen once or twice and that was an adventure!!
posted by Barbara L
Great memories. Many less distractions and life seemed simpler simpler in those days. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Laney