Back to Homepage of Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma

Online Exhibit: Cooking and Food Preparation: Kephart's Kitchen


While living in western North Carolina, Kephart rarely had a kitchen in the conventional sense. More frequently Kephart cooked in a specified area of his encampment. Boy Scouts continue this tradition in naming their cooking areas "kitchens" when camping. At times when Kephart stayed in small abandoned cabins, his cooking area was located near the fireplace. No matter where Kephart found himself cooking, he practiced his habit of maintaining a specific place for every item, a specific system for every activity, and a distinct purpose for every detail. Cooking related artifacts from the Mountain Heritage Center's Kephart Collection include a meat grinder, camping mess kit and canteen, wooden utensils, and a reflector oven for baking by a fire.

Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma is presented by Hunter Library Special Collections and the Mountain Heritage Center. This project was supported in whole or in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the federal Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

Disclaimer: These items are presented as part of the historical record and not meant to be advisory in “how-to” methods of camping, or other activities. This site includes historical materials that may contain negative stereotypes or language reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place including terminology that may not be deemed appropriate today.