"It seemed like a natural idea," said Alexis Jeffcoat, cemetery spokeswoman. The cemetery had its heyday from 1836 until about 1910, and Fairmount Park was not founded until 1855, so people often picnicked on the cemetery grounds overlooking the Schuylkill.
Dig In participants paid $30 each and, for whatever reason, the adventure drew a remarkable number of women with their sisters.
Amber and Saege Steele, sisters from Wyndmoor, were among the first-timers at the cemetery. Rachel Wolgemuth, who works at Laurel Hill's sister cemetery, West Laurel Hill in Bala Cynwyd, attended with her sister, Melissa Wolgemuth, a nurse at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a recreational chef.
Sisters Kerri and Maiti Gallen had been to the cemetery enough times to know "the birthday game," in which the first to find her birth date on a tombstone wins and the others pay for her drinks later.
At the Marketplace, where he teaches a full schedule of culinary classes, Koch made dinner with "receipts" he adapted from the National Cookery Book, edited for the Women's Committee of the 1876 Centennial Exposition by Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, Franklin's great-granddaughter.
The cookbook was sold as a fund-raiser at the Exposition, held in Philadelphia, and featured regional recipes from the growing nation, with an emphasis on foods from the 13 original colonies. The book was reprinted by Applewood Books in 2005 and is available on Amazon.com, but in the original format - without specific quantities for ingredients or explicit directions.
"Good luck roasting a beast or baking a cake from this book today," Koch said. Instead of using a churn, he made butter for the crowd in a food processor, and used a modern rotisserie for the roast.
