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Main Room - The word "kitchen" appears in the 1802 Inventory of Joseph Cory. The oak floors are original.The "Dutch" door, also known as a "Heck" or "Fence" door, is convenient for letting air in and keeping children in and animals out. They were much used in farmhouses of this type as well as in cities such as New York. The original plaster walls have painted wide horizontal paneling or dado. The color of paint used in this room was determined by an architectural historian from paint scrapings taken when work was' being done to reconstruct the fireplace. This section of the house appears to have been extensively altered. The first floor framing is of early 18th century origin but the changes in framing methods and materials and the lack of nogging in the upper sections indicate that it was rebuilt. In the 19th century a sawn lath ceiling and walls were installed. It is believed that a major fire may have occurred around that time. In reconstruction it appears that either old timbers were reused, or that a shed-like structure was altered and positioned overthe foundation below. The beamsare crude, unevenly spaced and those nearthe fireplace bear traces of exposure to smoke. They were probably not intended to be exposed. Beams measuring 3 1/2" x 7" are clearly seen in the cellarway.
Main Room- Fireplace- When the house was purchased,(1972), this room had no fireplace as it had been walled up. Studies of the cellar indicated where the basement (base of fireplace) was located and also that there may have been three fireplaces in this spot. The original fireplace was probably a very crude one in the cellar where it is thought the first living quarters were located (not an uncommon practice in the 18th century). The reconstructed fireplace is is based on what is believed to be fireplace No.2, circa 1760. It isshallow compared to what the original would have been ...The design andreconstruction was modeled on existing fireplaces of the period in our area; Baker House, Scotch Plains (1740), Stage House Inn, Scotch Plains (1737), and Merchants and Drovers Tavern's cook house, Clark (1770). The brick used in the reconstruction came from an 18th century church in Piscataway. It is possible that there was a copper boiler next to this fireplace evidenced by patched plaster in the ceiling directly above the area. The oven may have been rebuilt c. 1760, with the new one projecting either out of the back of the house (i.e., Frazee building's beehive oven) or into the storeroom behind.
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