Bread – Baked the Good Old-Fashioned Way

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 20, 2013

Bake oven is ready!

On Saturday, May 18th, together with Nantucket Preservation Trust, the Mitchell House hosted a fireplace and bake oven talk and demonstration in the late afternoon. Pen Austin, conservation mason, used the Mitchell House’s 1790 chimney and Sitting Room firebox and hearth to discuss the historic building of chimneys, lime mortar and slaking lime, and how to conserve or restore your historic chimney properly. Pen has worked on the Mitchell House chimney and root cellar.  This workshop was in celebration of Preservation Month and was free to the public.


The group then walked over to a home that was built in 1809. In the cellar of this home stands the original bake oven which Pen restored (for about 70 years the chimney and hearth in the cellar hosted the heating system for the house) for the homeowner who now cooks in it! We were treated to a demonstration and explanation of bake oven cooking. The homeowner added a 21st century spin by baking pizzas in the oven but also prepared five loaves of bread which she cooked in Dutch ovens – delicious! I have included some images for you to see. We wish to thank the homeowner, Michelle; Pen; and of course the sous chef and Michelle’s kitchen aide, Nathan Killeen – he is not just a restoration carpenter it seems! Thank you all and to the great group who attended.


JNLF

Nathan readies the bread for the oven.

The door goes on the oven for bread baking.

Bread just out of the bake oven.

Michelle talks about how long it takes the oven to get to temperature.

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 21, 2026
Sept. 24, 1881. . . . Mr. I. {van Ingen} thinks that not a person on the Board of Trustees would approve of the clause in Mr. Vassar’s will which objected to women as occupants of chairs. Just months before, Maria Mitchell had written a letter describing the controversy surrounding the bequest of Matthew Vassar to the college he founded. The large sum was separated out within his will, including the establishment of department chairs. The bequest for this action, however, did not allow for women professors to have a chair. Quite shocking for a women’s college but then, there were early trustees in the College’s founding who believed that women professors should not exist at Vassar! Maria would be the first professor Vassar hired – male OR female. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Announces Scalloping Field Trip Programs and Special Scalloping Experiences in October and November

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Hoop Rolling

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 14, 2026
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