Butler's Pantry

Third graders from Picadome Elementary visited Ashland, Henry Clay’s House. In the kitchen, they observed a fly swatter that looked like a tennis racket. A clever thing about the swatter was that all you had to do was twist it up and it started hitting the flies. Sometimes the slaves would get the fly swatter and twist it up and hit the flies with it. While it was summer, flies would come into Henry Clay’s House. Henry Clay’s family would always get hot. Henry Clay’s family would have to open the windows. So then flies would come in the windows. One of Henry Clay’s family members or slaves would get the fly swatter and start hitting the flies with the fly swatter.

By Clara

The third grade class from Picadome Elementary went to Henry Clay’s House. There was a part of the house that the butlers cooked in. The flies fly into the kitchen. There was a flyswatter that looked like a tennis racket. When they turned it around and let it go it would swat at the flies

. By Cameron

The Butler’s Pantry

By Michael

Do you have servants at your house that wait on you hand and foot? The third grade classes at Picadome Elementary School visited Henry Clay’s home and learned that Henry Clay was a slave owner. A few of those slaves worked in the home as personal servants. This picture is of the butler’s pantry. This room was lined with shelves full of fancy china and dishes. Another interesting part of this room is the bells that hung along the top of the wall. Each bell represented a different room in the house. Henry Clay and his family could ring a bell, and the servants would know which room to go to.

Things are different today because slavery has been outlawed. People don’t have servants anymore. Kids today have to get things on their own, or ask their mom or dad to get it for them.

THE SERVANT STAIRS

By Justin

The servants could only go up one stair case at Henry Clay’s home. It was really steep. The servant stairs were near the kitchen. Someone from the family could ring a bell that a servant would hear. The servant would get them what they want. The original stairs used to be circular stairs. The stairs were changed by Henry Clay’s son because his wife wanted separated stairs for the servants to go up and down. After Henry Clay’s death his son put in the two new staircases.

Smack!

By Alyson Wade

Have flies ever gotten into your house? The third grade classes at Picadome went to Henry Clay’s home. They learned that because there was no electricity or air conditioning at that time, Henry Clay and his family usually kept the windows open in the summertime. This caused a problem because flies got into the house and flew around the food. How annoying! Henry Clay’s family used a shoo-fly to get rid of these pests. The shoo-fly is wound up and spins around to make wind and shoo the flies away.

This is different from today because we use fly swatters to kill flies. Thank goodness we have air-conditioning and don’t have to keep the windows open. We don’t have as much of a fly problem as Henry Clay’s family did!

Ringing Bells

By Genaea

Did you know that Henry Clay rang bells? There was a row of bells that hung on a wire in the butler’s pantry. There was a wire that ran from each bell to a different room in the house. Each bell sounded different to represent a different room in the house. Around the house, in almost every room there was a button that rang the bells. The bells meant that a servant needed to come to that room. Very clever, don’t you think?!

Today most of us don’t have servants in our houses, but we do have things like walkie-talkies and intercom systems that help us communicate from room to room. I would have loved to live in Henry Clay’s years, wouldn’t you?

Page updated December 06, 2007