19th century Ti — Household tips

This is the latest in an occasional series of posts about news reported in 19th century weekly issues of the Ticonderoga Sentinel.

I don’t own a stained porcelain kettle, and I prefer to boil potatoes with the skins on.

So I can’t authenticate this 19th century household tip.

“To clean a browned porcelain kettle, boil peeled potatoes in it. The porcelain will be rendered white as new,” the Ticonderoga Setinel reported on July 18, 1874.

We did get a new tea kettle as a Christmas gift, but it does not leave an aftertaste.

So you’ll have to take the Sentinel’s word on this one, too.

“To remove the iron taste from new kettles, boil a handful of hay in them and repeat the process if necessary. Hay water is a great sweetener of tin, wooden and iron wares.”

In other July 18, 1874 Ticonderoga Sentinel news:

Infrastructure work was in progress.

“Work on the Lake George road is going on rapidly. New gangs are arriving daily and work is brisk along the whole line,” the Sentinel reported. “The new fifty feet open bridge at the north of Ti Creek is completed. It is rolled iron … and was made in Rochester.”

The Port Henry village board adopted a local law requiring that dogs running loose be muzzled.

President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife attended the Round Lake camp meeting on July 15.

“It is very encouraging to see our high functionaries taking so deep an interest in religious matters,” the Sentinel editorialized.

A former Ticonderoga resident that moved to New York City penned a poem in appreciation of being able to keep up with hometown news by subscribing to the Sentinel.

“Hail! happy messenger of joy, you’re welcome to my hand. May you be pure without alloy and spread throughout the land. Long have I waited to see your day … around Lake George’s shore. … May shuttles eager fly, may peace and plenty there abound, around my loved old ‘Ti.’”

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.