MAPLEWOOD
Maplewood, owned by V. S. Kutchin and his
wife Harriet, was both a hotel and a farm.
Sherly Kutchin managed the farm; his wife managed the hotel.
I was the head dining room girl for
Maplewood Hotel in 1942. The dining room
was a large, lovely room with a window wall facing the lake. Diners could gaze down across the grassy lawn
shaded by huge maples, and watch either the boats sailing on the lake, or the
traffic passing on Highway 23, which then followed what is now South Lawson Drive.
The dining room walls were painted royal
blue with white woodwork and trim. The
room had an assortment of about ten or eleven old fashioned dining room tables
such as were common in private homes before and around the turn of the
century. Some of the tables were left in
their normal, smaller size, while others were extended by "leaves"
and could seat up to a dozen people.
Their polished wood tops were set with white place mats and coasters,
both printed with blue designs. Each
table had a flower bouquet centerpiece, which was changed each morning. Place mats, coasters and flatware were kept
in a white built-in side board.
On the opposite side of the dining room
from the side board was a large fireplace trimmed with white woodwork. A large, full-width, clear mirror was above
the mantel. Each morning Mrs. Kutchin
would place her largest, prettiest bouquet there on the mantle to be reflected
in all its glory.
The Kutchins and their private guests had a private table reserved for them in the dining room. It was near the service exit so they could keep an eye on both the hotel guests and the help.
Near the service exit was a pantry in which
salt and pepper shakers, and sugar bowls were kept. The far end of the pantry was enclosed and
locked. Only Mrs. Kutchin and the cook
had keys to it. It was in this locked
section that sugar was kept, as well as honey, syrup, sweetened gelatin powder
and perhaps other items. Yes, it was war
time and sugar was rationed. Hired help,
both for the hotel and for the farm, who were furnished meals as part of their
employment, had to turn in their ration cards and the coupons were clipped
whenever they became valid. Restaurants
and hotels serving meals were allowed a certain amount of extra sugar by the
government, but if a guest remained for any length of time, such as a month or
more, they too were asked for their sugar ration. Desserts were made with honey instead of
sugar whenever possible, but honey and syrup was very hard to get, and high in
price.
Between the main dining room and the
kitchen was a room called the "men's dining room." This was where the "farm hands" and
other employees who received meals as part of their wages, were fed. They entered their dining room through the
kitchen. The cook would send in their
food when she saw them pass through.
They were not served food placed on individual plates as were the hotel
guests, but were given family style bowls of food to share. They were not always served the same foods as
that which the guests could order, nor did they have as wide a selection.
The big kitchen was a part of the original
farm house built by John Sherwood.
Cooking was done on a twelve burner, two-oven, restaurant, electric
stove. A huge ice box was situated under
a stairway going up to where the cooks and maids slept. Ice was taken from the lake each winter and
stored in an ice house located not too far from the kitchen side door. Farm hands were used to keep the ice box
filled with ice.
Off the main kitchen was a "pastry
kitchen" where four-leaved dinner rolls were made from scratch every
morning. Desserts were also made and
kept there until being served. A small
electric freezer and cooler kept vanilla ice cream and milk. This room was off limits for everyone except
the cooks.
Much of the food served in the hotel was
grown on the premises. Harriet Kutchin
had a collage horticulture degree and was an expert gardener, raising many
vegetables and flowers. Each spring she
maintained, on the southeast slope in front of her house, a cold frame, and a
hot bed heated with fresh horse manure.
She had many flower beds where she raised perennials. Annual flowers were raised in her large
vegetable garden. During the summer she
hired fellows whose duties were to work in her garden whenever they were not
needed as bellhops or busboys. Each
morning she gathered flowers from the various beds, took them to her
"service room" which was lined with many shelves, containing vases,
bowls, urns, baskets, frogs for supporting flowers, and various other floral
supplies. Yesterday's flower
arrangements were gathered each morning, and brought here to be refreshed or
replaced. Fresh flowers were put on each
of the dining room tables, in each bedroom being occupied, and in strategic
places like the fireplaces, the lobby and the parlor.
Maplewood Hotel was well known for its
variety of fresh vegetables served the same day they were picked. I remember the time the cook needed a few
more tomatoes, but all personnel were too busy to go out to the garden except
Mr. Kutchin. He brought back a green
tomato. Mrs Kutchin came through the
kitchen, noticed the green tomato, and demanded to know who had picked it. When told that Mr. Kutchin had, she told us
to never, ever send him to pick tomatoes. He was color blind, could not tell red from
green, but was too sensitive to admit it.
Potatoes were also raised on the farm. A favorite food in the hotel was small,
round, new potatoes which were boiled in their jackets, skinned, browned in
butter, and served with parsley, fresh from the garden.
Vegetables were not the only food served in
the hotel that the farm provided. Meat
was also rationed during the war, but no stamps were needed when using that
which you had raised yourself. Mr.
Kutchin belonged to the DHIA (Dairy Herd Improvement Association.) He had a herd of prize-winning registered
holsteins, which furnished the hotel with milk for drinking and cooking. Beef cattle were also raised, which were
slaughtered, processed by the Ripon Locker Plant and kept frozen in the locker
that the Kutchins rented. Each morning
Mr. Kutchin would check with the cooks about what was needed in the kitchen
that day, and come back later with the articles needed after going to the locker
plant, post office, and perhaps the grocery store.
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