The Summer Kitchen

Cooking in an open fireplace in summer can cause the kitchen to become extremely hot, so it was common for people to build a separate building called a "Summer Kitchen" where much of the food would be prepared during the summer months.  The summer kitchen would contain a large fireplace with an oven, and usually a large table that was used as a work surface.

Our summer kitchen was originally located on Bartlett Street and the beehive oven was constructed on site. We use the summer kitchen to demonstrate colonial cooking techniques on colonial Craft Day in September and at various times during the year.