05/15/2026
Janet McKenzie Hill, the woman who gave Topo Pino its name.
A food writer, culinary educator, cookbook author, and longtime editor of The Boston Cooking-School Magazine, Hill trained under Fannie Merritt Farmer before helping shape the way American home cooking was taught, written about, and preserved.
In the early 1900s, Janet and her husband purchased a White Mountains property in South Chatham, New Hampshire, named it Topo Pino, and established the Summer School of Cookery here — bringing women to the mountains for a season of learning, cooking, gathering, and practical skill.
At a time when women’s professional paths were far more limited, Hill believed education could open new doors. Through cookery, writing, and instruction, she helped women build knowledge, confidence, and the skills to pursue work of their own.
More than a century later, her vision remains part of the story we’re carrying forward: recipes as inheritance, the kitchen as a place of learning, and seasonal living as a way of life.
