Presented by Bob Wood

Amos Long, Jr. in The Pennsylvania Farm Family notes, “The 1871 issue of the agricultural almanac by John Bear’s sons reads, ‘A good brick oven for baking breads, pies, and cakes is worth all the ranges and cook stoves that one could store in the kitchen. In such an oven everything will be baked just right, above and below through and through.’” In the early days, and even well into the 1900s, brick bake ovens were almost universally present on Pennsylvania German farmsteads. Local historian and author Bob Wood describes and illustrates their origin, construction, and use in Southeastern Pennsylvania.