Arts & Entertainment

Feasting on History

The Riversdale House Museum held a dinner Saturday evening that mimicked dinners at the mansion during the 1800s.

About 40 guests spent their Saturday evening at the Riversdale House Museum for the museums Art of Cookery event which featured food prepared in the style of the 19th century.

Historically, the mistress of Riversdale, Rosalie Stier Calvert, kept a large garden to help feed those working and living within her household in the 1800s. She'd often write to her father, Henri Joseph Stier, in Europe about her garden and her plans for growth.

Volunteer Barbara Stone said the garden now at the museum is a smaller replica of Calvert's garden and the produce from the garden was used in Saturday evening's dinner.

Find out what's happening in Riverdale Park-University Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"This is what would have been grown then," Stone said, "including swiss chard, tomatoes, cardoon, tobacco and asparagus."

She said the garden also grows fruits like blackberries, plums, figs and cherries.

Find out what's happening in Riverdale Park-University Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Stone said the mansion hosts a kitchen guild once a month with cooking demonstrations that use various produce from the garden. Yet, this dinner allows guests to taste the products cooked in the traditional way.

Maureen Becker, of Baltimore, said she wanted to attend the dinner to experience the history of the mansion.

"Riverdale is a interesting place," Becker said, "and the idea that this dinner is made form the produce right from the garden in unique."

As a former Riverdale resident, she said she's seen the progress of the mansion over the years.

Raymond Bahr, of Balitmore, said he  and Becker also came to to the faux funeral the museum hosted in October.

"It was a funeral for a child back in the day," Bahr said, "and it was an interesting experience."

He too said he's happy to see how the mansion has been retained over the years.

"These types of homes are cherished," Bahr said. "The programs they do here are fascinating."

Fran Knapp Kilty, of Columbia, was baking dessert cookies and cooking swiss chard in a 19th century kitchen. She stood in century style clothing made of thick blue linen and a white cap, as she moved pots over an open fireplace.

Barbara Hopkins, of Silver Spring, is a volunteer in the garden. Hopkins said after watching Kilty cook in the hot kitchen Saturday she has a new appreciation for  modern times.

"Made me glad for modern times, it's too hot in there," she said. "It's just fascinating that they could make all this stuff with what they had."

The dinner, which cost guests $30, featured herbed cheese, crackers, and pickled cabbage as an appetizer, followed by beef steak and ale pies, roasted vegetables, stuffed eggplants, swiss chard, garden salad, double-corn bread and blackberry preserves as dinner. For dessert, they were offered cherry parfaits and stewed huckleberry cake.

Samantha Ferris, a spokeswoman with the Riversdale House Museum, said this was the first time the Art of Cookery event was open to the public.

"Last year we had the event but only extended invitations to local farmers markets, CSA groups," Ferris said. "It was also a tasting only and not a sit down dinner."

She said there will a meeing to discuss the event this week and discuss how the museum might have a similar event in the future.

"We definitely want to do more events to promote the garden," she said. "A lot of new people came last night who had never been to Riversdale yet, but they seemed interested in the  kitchen guild demos."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Riverdale Park-University Park