The kitchen stoves of Thomas Jefferson's enslaved chef have been unearthed

The remains of the stoves used by one of the most masterful chefs around during the early days of the United States have been unearthed.

Those stoves belonged to James Hemings who was the cook for future President Thomas Jefferson. Hemings was also a slave.

Hemings was taught in kitchens in France and introduced meringues, creme brûlée and macaroni and cheese to American cooking, according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

The director of archeology at Monticello, where Jefferson lived, said it’s one of the "really rare instances where we can associate a workspace and artifact with a particular enslaved individual whose name we know."

It’s possible that the stew stoves were part of a kitchen upgrade by Jefferson once Hemings came back from France.

Hemings was technically a free man while in Paris, but it is believed he returned to America to be with his family in Virginia.

Hemings did strike a deal with Jefferson to become a free man in 1796. He would return to the Monticello kitchen in 1801, when Jefferson became president, before apparently committing suicide in Baltimore shortly after he left.

Of the 600 people Jefferson owned, he only freed two of them.