Warming Pan

This warming pan was commissioned by the townspeople of Danvers, Massachusetts, to honor Francis Symonds (1719-1775). The brass lid and pan are engraved with the inscription:

“Francis Symonds Esq.

Innkeeper and Poet

Patriot and Friend

of Gen. Washington

From the Townspeople”

Francis Symonds owned the Bell Tavern, a popular meeting place in South Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts, and a site of revolutionary activity.

In 1770, the Sons of Liberty brought an accused seller of boycotted tea to the tavern and made him sign a confession and apology. The morning of April 19, 1775, local militia companies gathered at the Bell Tavern before marching to Menotomy (now Arlington) to intercept British Regulars returning to Boston. Symonds himself took part in the Battle of Menotomy, the bloodiest engagement of the day.

Noted collector and scholar Nina Fletcher Little acquired the warming pan from a dealer in the 1960s. By its history, the pan was made in the 1780s and presented to Symonds in recognition of his deeds for the town. However, an obituary in the Essex Gazette confirms Symonds died of sickness in September 1775. The warming pan was therefore likely made around 1835 when the town of Danvers celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord by erecting a monument in front of Bell Tavern. The inscription bolstered the legacy of Symonds as a prominent local citizen.

Boston, early 1800s
Brass, wood
Gift of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little