Material

iron

Dimensions

Length: 25" Width: 13 3/4" Height: 3"

Creation Date

circa 1708

Description

Four-legged rectangular gridiron with a cooking surface made of straight and undulating bars of rectangular section. Its tapering handle is punched with geometric decoration, the initials RH, FC, the date 1708 and terminates in a fleur-de-lis.

The direct ancestor of today's barbeque grill, the gridiron of the 18th century was amongst the handiest devices found in many kitchens. Used to suspend meat, fish or fowl above a pile of hot coals sent directly on the hearth floor, it is easy to see the relationship between the colonial era gridiron and today's devices. While this early example is of a distinctly English style, simpler American versions were often more simple and made with non-intersecting parallel bars. Such cooking devices were so common throughout America that when a nickname was needed for a football field, the wholly appropriate term "gridiron" was adopted!

Provenance

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of Michael Weber

Kitchen Artifact ID

Acc. No. 2016-99