Troop 60302 Silver Award Project

Reimagining the Keeping Room

First, what is a “Keeping Room?” According to Southern Living magazine “In Colonial Times, … The keeping room was a common space [near the warm kitchen] where anyone not cooking sat (or even slept) to stay out of the way but could still take advantage of the heat. The hearth kept them warm, hence the name.“

In the Hitchcock-Phillips House the Keeping Room is actually the room that was the kitchen for the 1820 addition to the original 1780 house.

While this room has traditionally contained many interesting artifacts, including a beehive oven, it has long been a dark and uninviting space.

This was the perfect challenge for Troop 60302, under the tutelage of former Historical Society President Cayetana Navarro!

Troop Leader Elizabeth Roth should be very proud of these four Girl Scouts: Lasya Josyula, Samantha Roth, Meaghan Desmond, and Elizabeth Voong.

They presented the improved Keeping Room display at CT Open House Day on June 14, 2025.

In this photo, Lasya and Samantha are holding a Thorpe Rolling Pin, manufactured in Cheshire and considered the “Cadillac” of rolling pins!

Meaghan and Elizabeth are displaying a coffee grinder manufactured in Cheshire in the early 1840s by the Mix brothers.

During Open House Day, the girls were able to participate in a Q&A session with our Newsletter Editor, Diane Calabro, between tours.

Why did you choose this room as the focus for your project?

We had choices of which room to concentrate on. WE chose this room because we thought it was the most interesting to work on. WE saw all these artifacts from our town. Just seeing what everything was used for and how it works. It’s been really fun to see all these things.

What did you like best about remodeling the look of this room?

When we first saw this room, it had no order to it. It really looked a little cuckoo. We made it more organized and made it easier to see the artifacts. People can understand the stories behind the artifacts now.

What’s your favorite item in the Keeping Room?

We like the Thorpe Rolling Pin. It was made here in Cheshire is a shop located between Main Street Caffe and Hines Hardware.

What was the most challenging part of your project?

We really enjoyed everything about our project. Some of the artifacts are really fragile and we were super careful when we handled them. We did carefully clean everything on display here. Most everything needed it!

You also have a Cooking Recipe Project. Can you tell me more about that?

We have an email that people can use to send their recipes to us. Then we will print them out when we have enough. We want to have a print version to display in the Keeping Room but we will also post the recipes on-line.