Monticello's Cooks

Monticello's Cooks

James Hemings

James Hemings was nineteen years old when Jefferson decided to bring him to France "for a particular purpose." Hemings spent the next three years as an apprentice with a variety of French caterers and cooks, and then he took charge of the kitchen in Jefferson's residence on the Champs-Elysées. His creations were served to authors and scientists, and a succession of European aristocrats from the Duc de la Rochefoucauld to the Princess Lubomirska. More on James Hemings »

From Trainee to Trainer

Back in America, James Hemings was Jefferson's chef in Philadelphia and at Monticello. When he asked to be freed, his manumission was made contingent on training another member of Monticello's enslaved community in "the art of cookery." James Hemings passed on his skills to his brother, Peter Hemings who became the next head cook at Monticello. 

"Choice" Meals

When Jefferson assume the presidency, African-American apprentices from Monticello were at work in Washington under Jefferson's French chef, Honoré Julien. Edith Fossett and Frances Hern spent several years at the President's House, and took over the Monticello kitchen on Jefferson's retirement from the presidency in 1809. There, they transformed what Jefferson called "plantation fare" into "choice" meals.

Sharing Skills

The skills and recipes that came to Monticello were passed from one family member to another. When Edith Fossett's son (and James Hemings's great-nephew) Peter Fossett became free in 1850 and moved to Cincinnati, he used some of those same talents to build up one of that city's most successful catering firms.