Edith Hern Fossett
An enslaved, French-trained chef who served at the White House during Jefferson's presidency and later ran the kitchen at Monticello.
1809 Kitchen
Completed by 1809, Monticello's best-equipped kitchen was the domain of enslaved chefs Edith Fossett and Frances Hern, who brought French-trained culinary expertise to the mountain after serving at the White House.
This kitchen, completed by 1809, was among the best equipped in Virginia. While serving as U.S. Minister to France, Jefferson purchased a large number of cooking utensils for his residence in Paris. In the early 1790s, as part of an 86-crate shipment of goods, he had them shipped back to America and eventually to Monticello. While the cellar of the South Pavilion housed Monticello's first, relatively small kitchen, a second kitchen was constructed during the expansion of the house. Completed by 1809, the newer, much larger work space featured a bake oven, a fireplace, and an eight-opening stew stove with integrated set kettle. A tall case clock also stood in the kitchen: Isaac Granger Jefferson, an enslaved smith at Monticello, later recalled that the only time Jefferson went into the kitchen was to wind the clock.
Check out the 1809 Kitchen exhibit on your next visit to Monticello.
Gallery
Enslaved chefs Edith Fossett and Francis Hern first trained with French chefs Étienne Lemaire and Honoré Julien at the White House, learning the style and cuisine of Paris. Upon Jefferson's retirement, Fossett and Hern cooked in the newly built 1809 Kitchen and prepared iconic meals that one visitor remarked where in a "half French, half Virginian" style.
The kitchen's brick floor, bake oven, fireplace, stew stove, and the tall case clock seen at Monticello today are part of a restoration and re-interpretation effort that culminated in the summer of 2004 with the opening of the space to visitors.
- 2018, based on the Spring 2005 Monticello Newsletter article, "Refurbished Kitchen is Opened to Visitors"
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![A small room with a low bed, a table in the corner with a chair and some wares with part of a fireplace visible.]()
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![A document in Jefferson's hand describing how to make pasta dough along with a small sketch of a press for making pasta with the various parts labeled by with letters and explained in the accompanying text.]()
EncyclopediaMacaroni
Jefferson did not invent macaroni and cheese, nor did his enslaved chef James Hemings. But its appearance on the menu at the White House was seen as a novelty.
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![A recipe for ice cream written out by Thomas Jefferson on a long strip of paper.]()
EncyclopediaIce Cream
Thomas Jefferson can be credited with the first known recipe for ice cream recorded by an American and likely helped to popularize it in this country.
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![James Hoban's 1793 North Elevation for the White House (President's House) in Washington, DC.]()
EncyclopediaDining at the President's House
Thomas Jefferson held periodic dinners at the President's House in Washington to build relationships with political allies and opponents often using the events as a tool to gain political ends.
