Mary

Hunter Research Inc. excavated two large bread ovens in Trenton, New Jersey
recently for the NJDOT.  The ovens were set into the banks of the Delaware
River and were part of a mid to 3rd quarter 18th century commercial property
(warehouses, stoneware kiln and fishery) all owned by William Richards 1760
to 1787.  The ovens were located side by side in the basement of a two story
building.  The ovens were fairly intact, only the front doors or openings
had been destroyed by a 1980s sewer line.  I'll send you a better
description of the dimensions on Monday when I get to the office.

Bill Liebeknecht
Principal Investigator
Hunter Research Inc.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Beaudry <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 3:41 PM
Subject: Query re outdoor bread ovens


> Perhaps a thread on this topic happened when I had my account set to
> nomail in earlier summers when I was actually in the field, but I'll
> ask anyway.
>
> Has anyone found remains of outdoor bread ovens at Anglo sites of the
> colonial period?  I have a query from an architectural historian who
> has uncovered textual references to construction of ovens and an
> "oven sheed" but all the excavated examples we know of come from
> sites occupied by French, Italian, or German colonists.  I figure in
> New England we seldom have enough of the site left in urban areas to
> really find everything that was in the original homelot, but perhaps
> someone has come up with evidence we can muster to clarify the
> documents and satisfy curiousity?
>
> Best,
> Mary B.
>
> --
>
> Mary C Beaudry
> Associate Professor
> Department of Archaeology
> Boston University
> 675 Commonwealth Avenue
> Boston, MA 02215 USA
>
> tel. 617-358-1650
> fax 617-353-6800
>