Bake Oven

The bake oven was usually a brick structure, identifiable by a bulging profile at one gable end that betrayed the oven space beneath. While ovens were often incorporated into the summer kitchen, on some farmsteads, a free standing outdoor bake oven was erected. This provided space for a highly labor intensive and hot task. Examples have been found in field survey work in the Southwestern region, the central portion of the state, and in the southeast. The outdoor bake oven represents farm women's work in a fundamental subsistence activity.

1850 bake oven, Adams County
Outdoor bake oven, Adams County, c. 1850.

Summer kitchen with attached bake oven, Jackson Township, Lebanon County, c. 1830
Summer kitchen with attached bake oven, Jackson Township, Lebanon County, c. 1830.

Outdoor bake oven, West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, c. 1850
Outdoor bake oven, West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, c. 1850. (Site 029-WN-004)
The hood at left is lined with shelves. The original oven door has been blocked and a
smaller metal door inserted. The section to the right of the oven has no windows,
suggesting perhaps a later conversion to a smokehouse.