Copper Saucepan

Daily life at Mount Vernon

This saucepan would have been used by Mount Vernon’s kitchen slaves to prepare meals for the Washingtons and their guests. Made of copper, the saucepan is lined with tin to avoid the distinctive metallic taste imparted to food by copper cookware. George Washington willed all of the kitchen cookware to his wife upon his death. It is believed that Thomas Peter (husband of Martha Washington’s granddaughter Martha Parke Custiis) purchased the pan in 1802, at an auction held after Martha’s death (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

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cookware