Yankee Homecoming

Eight houses across the city invite you into their kitchens today

Nick Pinto
Published: July 27, 2007

NEWBURYPORT — Kitchen fetishists, prepare to be gratified.

The seventh annual Newburyport Kitchen Tour will take place today, as nine kitchens in eight houses across the city open their doors to the curious public.

Bethany Groff, one of the tour’s organizers, said curiosity about other people’s kitchens is universal.

“Everyone eats; everyone has a kitchen,” Groff said. “At the same time, kitchens have historically been a part of the house that a guest would never see. That’s changed somewhat, but it’s still a place that people associate with family and pleasant times.”

In past years, the kitchen tour has raised around $10,000 for the Brown School, but with this year’s reconfiguration of the city’s elementary schools, the tour is changing. Where the tour has heretofore been confined to the city’s South End around the Brown School, this year it has expanded to include kitchens from across Newburyport, and even down the road in Newbury. Ticket revenues are also being redirected. This year, profits will go to support work on the playgrounds at the Bresnahan Elementary and the Molin Upper Elementary schools.

Two of the kitchens on display today are in the historic Coffin House in Newbury. One kitchen dates back to 1678, the other to 1712. Both feature the enormous hearths that characterized kitchens of the day. Other kitchens along the self-guided tour, including those in the Turkey Hill neighborhood on the other end of town, are somewhat more contemporary.

The Kitchen Tour runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Tickets are available at 14 High Road in Newbury and 12 Windward Road in Newburyport, two of the kitchens on the tour. Tickets are $15.

For more information, contact Melissa Cody at 978-462-6174 or Bethany Groff at 978-807-2932.