At Historic White Pine Village we have 30 buildings in our "Village" and inside those buildings, there are thousands of artifacts on display. People come to our Village to walk through the buildings with the hope of gaining a glimpse into the lives of our forefathers. History takes you back in time. And oftentimes you are reminded that the people of 100 years ago (or more), are really the same as we are today. As an example, we know that today we're obsessed with coffee; and the pioneers were no different. Coffee, after all, has been around since the 1st century. We have several coffee grinders on display in both the General Store and the Trading Post inside the Caswell Courthouse. These grinders were not as convenient as our electric grinders are today.
The first known coffee grinder was the mortar and pestle. These were made from wood or from stone, such as the one shown below. As with our preferences of today (glass makes food taste better than plastic), people choose specific woods and stone that they felt imbued the coffee with special flavors, or simply brought out the best flavor the coffee beans had to offer. As you can see, the mortar and pestle does not give a consistent grind...there are fines and there are larger pieces of the bean as well. And, it is a time-consuming process as well.
Most of the grinders that we have here at Historic White Pine Village, were invented in the late 1800s. The first U.S. patented grinder went to Thomas Bruff in 1798. His was a wall-mounted design such as the one below that can be seen in our "General Store".
In 1870, John Gulick Baker patented a grinder he called "Champion #1" and it became the most popularly used grinder in local grocery stores. Pictured below are a few of the grinders in our collection that can be seen in the Trading Post of the Caswell Courthouse.
The "Imperial" model coffee grinder (pictured on the right) was manufactured by Arcade Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1885, Arcade Manufacturing Co. coffee grinders were primarily made for home use.
The grinder pictured above (and to the left) bears a label on it from the Sun Manufacturing Co. It was made between 1906-1916. These grinders were added to our collection in 1949 & 1950.
Whole beans were added to the top of the grinder, the handle was turned and the grounds were collected in the small drawers that you see or the cup that is pictured in one of the grinders. These grinders were less work than the mortar and pestle, took less time to use, and produced a more evenly ground coffee. With modern grinders we have today, you simply push a button and within 12-15 seconds, you have very evenly ground, fine coffee grounds for your morning cup of Joe.
Links used in Research:
Comments