History of Topo Pino

Topo Pino is rooted in history as the former home of Janet McKenzie Hill’s Summer School of Cookery in the early 1900s. A culinary pioneer, food writer, and editor of the Boston Cooking School Magazine, Hill was a leading figure in the movement toward precise, science-based cooking.

After graduating from the Boston Cooking School, she went on to establish her own Summer School of Cookery at Topo Pino, where she taught seasonal cooking in the natural setting of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The school gained prominence following the 1896 publication of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, who had been the principal of the Boston Cooking School during Hill’s time there.

It was Hill who named the property Topo Pino, a place where she brought her vision of culinary education and seasonal ingredients to life.

Janet McKenzie Hill's Summer School of Cookery

  • Students of Janet McKenzie Hill's Summer School of Cookery gathered on the porch at Topo Pino, where culinary tradition and shared learning flourished.

  • Janet McKenzie Hill at her home, Topo Pino.

  • Beautiful place setting on the porch at Topo Pino in the early 1900s.

Historical Photos & Stories