This 18th century iron cooking kettle was found in the yard at Byrnside’s Fort. It’s shown here displayed with a larger non-excavated example, which survived at a nearby fort site about 9 miles away.
Usually you find them in much smaller pieces. These early examples generally have no markings on them, other than casting marks and designs. This example appears to have been used until completely worn out, and then buried in a nearby pit with other refuse. This was one of those simple necessities which would have been carried over the mountains via pack horse, utilizing precious cargo space. Therefore they were used until the bottom eventually failed, which is probably what happened with this kettle.
I’ve previously posted about other cooking related items found at Byrnside’s Fort:
Glad to see you are finding interesting items. I assume kettles were never locally manufactured. I\’ll help you dig in July this year.
Very interesting to see this old kettle, or what remains of it, to think of what my 5th great grandmother might have cooked with this pot. I visited the house about 11 years ago, spent a couple of wonderful hours with Ms Johnson, and am eager to see the fort when your work is complete. I used James Byrnside, Sr as my DAR Patriot when I joined many years ago, and it was then that I and my family learned about the house.
Interesting they didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’t go far to bury it. Also different how sharp of angle the handle loops are compared to more recent examples.