Today I went to Green Briar Jam Kitchen, America’s Oldest Jam Kitchen. Since 1903, they have been the makers of the finest jams, jellies, relishes, and preserves.
Green Briar is a “hidden gem” in East Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Ever since Ida Putnam began the Jam Kitchen in 1903, visitors have come to Green Briar to savor the aromas of fresh fruits cooking on the stove or in the heat of the sun.
Today the Jam Kitchen is a “living museum” where visitors may view the cooking process first-hand or take a class, which is what I did today on gas stoves installed in 1916. If you ever visit Cape Cod I can strongly recommend this experience. I came away with four pints of jam and a great experience.
The building is now owned by the Thornton W. Burgess Society. Thornton Waldo Burgess (born January 14, 1874 – died June 5, 1965), naturalist and conservationist, loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for daily columns in newspapers.
His outdoor observations in nature were used as plots for his stories. In his first book, Old Mother West Wind, published in 1910, the reader meets many of the characters found in later books and stories. These characters include Peter Rabbit , Grandfather Frog, Reddy Fox, Jimmy Skunk, along with Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Joe Otter, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle and of course, Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes.
