Last updated: May 6, 2026
Place
Bake Oven
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
Significance:
Furnace Complex Operations
On January 29, 1825, Thomas Kinney was paid by Hopewell Furnace $3.00 for building the bake oven. It was later restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in September, 1940, and additional preservation efforts in 1955 to restore it to it's 1840s appearance.
The double oven design allowed baking at different temperatures; the ovens were also used to dry apples, peaches and corn. Drying foods was a popular way to preserve meats, vegetables and fruits for use during the winter. Its larger hearth would permit up to two dozen loaves of bread to be inserted at once. Baking was typically a weekly chore, performed on either Fridays or Saturdays. It normally took 1/4-1 cord of wood to use the bake oven. Once it has reached temperature, the embers would be spread across the floor of oven to continue evenly heating. The ashes and embers will be removed by dumping into an ash catcher near the front of the oven or removed and the heat of the bricks will cook the food. Common misconception is that a fire is kept in the back of the oven to perform cooking of food items. The oven cooks food by being heated to an incredibly hot temperature. After 1-3 hours of preheating, the fire and embers are scattered across the hearth to heat the entire oven for about 10-15 minutes, and then are removed. The heat retained inside the oven walls coos the food, not the fire source.
During the hot summers, it kept heat out of the house but then could not aid in the heating of the home in the winter. Extremely inconvenient in the rain and snow as only a few feet of awning were often built in front of typical outdoor oven.
The bake oven was an invaluable tool in the feeding of the occupants of the Ironmaster’s mansion and the workers of the Hopewell Furnace community.