Mountain Lake in Fall
COMPLIMENTARY! TAKE ONE! FREE! Graniteware Galore Colors Barbara McFarlane’s World
For more than 25 years, Barbara McFarlane of Great Falls has collected many vintage graniteware coffeepots such as the green, crystolite, and blue ones on the shelves beside her. [Photo by Craig Larcom]
By Craig & Liz Larcom Barbara McFarlane of Great Falls is on the prowl for graniteware kitchen items wherever she goes - and not just any graniteware. She will ignore the blue, white-speckled plates in your camping set because they are still making those today. Instead, McFarlane pursues graniteware made between 1870 and the 1950s. The baked-on, enameled surface was easy to clean, durable, more rust-resistant than the ironware it replaced, and it baked well. As the decades rolled on, the gray kitchenware of the earliest years was joined by graniteware as colorful as the flowers McFarlane grows in her yard. Over 25 years, McFarlane has collected hundreds of graniteware items, including over one hundred coffeepots. Naturally, she also has a few stories to go along with them. And, of course, she has a sixth sense for finding graniteware. Even 15 years ago, this sense was well honed. So it is not surprising that, moments after she entered a house in Great Falls for a rummage sale, she noticed a remarkable piece of dark brown graniteware on the stove. It had a black knob and handle and a gray- and white-flecked pattern that looked like snowflakes. “Oh, do you want to sell that coffeepot?” McFarlane asked. “No, we’ve had that for a long time at the cabin,” the owner responded. Fortunately for McFarlane, a friend of the woman was there that day who had once been inside McFarlane’s home to look at the graniteware. “She’d really give it a good home,” she advised her friend, the owner. The owner hesitated. “I’d have to have five dollars for it,” she said. McFarlane had her five dollars out in a flash, happy to find a unique coffeepot at a great price. “I like the size of it,” McFarlane adds, as she gazes on it today. “I’ll probably use that one next on my stove.” McFarlane uses a graniteware coffeepot every day to brew coffee. “I don’t remember anymore what kind of pot I was using before, some kind of a percolator you plugged in I think,” she muses. “Graniteware is the only thing I use to make cowboy coffee.” McFarlane explains her method “Bring the water to a simmer and dump the grounds in. Simmer it a little bit, dump some cold water in, settle it, and drink it.” Every now and then she switches out the coffeepot that reigns on her stove for another. Not every coffeepot is suitable for (Continued on page 69)