Life Below Stairs

Life Below Stairs, a new permanent exhibition in the Morris-Jumel Mansion’s 18th-century kitchen, offers two areas of insight: the widely diverse geographic and cultural origins of American foodways and cuisine, and a glimpse into the little-known life of the individuals who worked below stairs. These individuals, most often enslaved or indentured, and usually people of color, lived multifaceted lives that are traditionally unrecognized and unknown. Discover unexpected stories of the work it took to care for the Mansion and its occupants, and where some of America’s culinary traditions originated.