The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-02-23
BLUE HILL BEAN KILN
iT TAkEa IN ALL THE Bran POTS IN
THE TOWN.

a'his Unique Oven Bakes For Fami-
lies, the Boarding Houses md the
Hotel - How "OIe Dave" Linscott
Started 1t and Made 1t Mig.
There il Q comfortable little town, call
ed Blue Hill, because 1t is situated under
the brow of q little mountaiR Of that
name, way down in one corner of Ham
cock county, Me-, which claims distinc-
, ton as being the only town in the uni
verse which has town bean kiln-"bean
KILL" the natives call it. 1t is an old in
stitution, whereby over 80 per cent of the
beans eaten in the town are baked.
Blue Hill doesn't vary from the aver
age New England village in its loyalty to
baked beans. Its profound respect for
the bean as a staple article of diet may
perhaps be especially marked, because it
Is of Its beans that the town brags.
AS in other places, tastes differ, and,
while some cling to the original big, fat
"yaller eye" others like the smaller pea
bean, while the epicureans delight in the
diminutive Californian pea bean. But
this IL all q matter Of taste. The plebeian
"yaller eye" and the aristocratic Califor-
MAN all come together on the level in the
bean kiln.
There are baked beans and baked
beans.
There is the New England golden
brown kind, baked, with plenty of corn
fed pork and something more than dash
of molasses, for some "a hours over a
slow, steady fire. Nothing different is al
lowed in New England, although Boston
has pre-empted the trade mark. Then
there is the pale imitation, which is as
dust and ashes to the wanderer from the
New England freside when, with disap-
pointmcnt, he encounters them outside of
New England.
The average person in charge Of New
England cuisine picks over" the beans
Friday night. Having picked out all the
foreign material which may have been
LETT In the process of winnowing the
thrashed beans In the wiad which whis-
ties around the northeast corner Of the
barn. the beans are put to soak" until
Saturday morning. whom they are potted,
with q generous slice Of salt pork on top,
sweetencd with more or less molasses or
sugar and perhaps spiccd with a little
mustard. Then they are baked all day
Saturday In slow oven or, at Blue Hill,
sent to the kill"
The beans ars arst "broached" on Sat
urday night. when the top layer is re-
moved for supper. care being taken not
to ''mush" the balance, portions Of which
are served Sunday morning and rs many
times subsequently as the supply permits
or the good nature of the "boarders" al
lows.
Beans are the great staple Of the lum-
Der camps. of the coasting vessels and
wherever convocations of hungry men
gather together to satisfy their appe-
tites.
But about the great and only institu-
ton of Blue Hill.
1t was AWAY back In the sixties when
the Linscotts went to Blue Hill. They
were brickmakers from Hackensack. One
of the family. while on a visit to some Of
his people IN Blue Hill. CHANGED to get
mired in mud puddle and while scrar-
ing the clay from his boots noticed that
the consistency and grain was that of the
finest brick clay. He prospectcd a little
and found that the hills about the place
were Of the same kind Of clay and that
sand Of prime quality was close at hand.
Blue Hill hay was a natural harbor.
There was steady demand for bricks
everywhere. and so II was that the Lin
SCOTS went to Blue Hill and started the
brickmaking business. The Hackensack
people were enterprising, and their crew
Of employees grew larger and larger until
it absorbed all the available natives, and
it was necessary to import men from the
neigbboring towns. This necessitatcd n
boarding house, and SO 1t was that Mrs.
Linscott's big four story frame house be-
came the shelter of 40 or so ablebodied
men with enormous appetites. They were
not particular as to the monu so long as
there was plenty Of food, and Mrs. Lin
scott's beans were pronounced just about
right.
Although the house was equipped with
a spacious brick oven, what with the
bread and pies and buildings and other
things the capacity was considerably
strained. Mrs. Linscott was complain
ing Of this when her husband, sole Dave"
Linscott. said he'd see about II. He talk
cd the matter over with the foreman, and
so it happened that one Saturday after
noon when work was little slack the
crew turned to and built an enormous
arrangement in the IAnscott dooryard. 1t
was like huge brick oven as much as
anything else. They called 1t bean
KILL" because II was not much of any
thing else. The frebox was arranged to
take four foot wood. and the arrange
ment of fiues and drafts was the result Of
many conferences and the consensus Of
opinion Of all the expert brick burners Of
the works.
Build 'er big eDough." said David, and
it was big ssough for hundreds of bean
pots.
The "Sill'' was a great success. Moth
ing was ever seen Ike il. No such beans
ever ticklsd the palate Of n hungry Efick
worker rs came ont of the insects
bean kiln. Then the neighbors began to
bring their beans, just as a sample order.
And when they brought them once they
did again. Finally the kill" became so
extremely popular that thrifty David
thought there might be a chance for
speculation" and so a fee of n cent per
pot was established.
And this WAS the origin Of the kiln.
The original structure has been rebuilt
and altered many times. The Linscotts
got rich and moved back to New Jersey,
but their successors kept up the kiln.
The price has been advanced with the in
creased price Of wood, but the custom
has not fallen off, rs more people have
moved in. and the town has become IA
nous summer resort. And now of q
frluay nlght all the youngsters OF INC
village may be seen about sunset heading
for the bean kill' with the family bean
pots.
In the summer time blackboard loads
Of guests from the Blue Hill inn drive
down and peer into the fiery furnace
where "Shadrach." "Meshach" and
"Abcdnego." the three huge pots from the
copper mine, the quarry and the spool
mill boarding houses. are going through
their fiery ordeal.-Boston Herald.
Thumb Nail Drawings.