March 6 A Taste for History at Annual Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration at Durand-Hedden

Durand-Hedden Offers Taste of History at Annual Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration

Sunday, March 6, from 1pm to 4pm

Each year, visitors look forward to gathering around Durand-Hedden’s 18th century open hearth and experiencing how Maplewood residents of long ago cooked, ate, and kept warm during these long winter months. This year, Durand-Hedden is pleased to welcome a new cook to its kitchen.

Deborah Peterson has demonstrated 18th century open-hearth cooking at a multitude of historic sites and reenactments, and she looks forward to working at our fire. Away from the hearth, Deborah enjoys researching the material culture, economics, and social aspects of people of the 18th century, primarily those of English descent in Southeastern Pennsylvania. 

On the menu this year will be Manchet bread and a chocolate tart baked in the beehive oven, as well as a boiled pudding and savory sausages cooked over the fire. Watch how it’s done, breath in the wonderful aromas in our historic house, and sample a few centuries-old treats. Children can try their hands at old-fashioned cooking chores like kneading dough, churning butter, and watch a spinster make yarn at her wheel. 

An Annual Tribute

Durand-Hedden’s mid-winter open-hearth cooking demonstration has become an annual tradition to honor late longtime trustee, Irene Kosinski. Irene, a gifted educator and lover of living history, who oversaw the restoration of Durand-Hedden’s beehive oven in 1981. She went on to establish our perpetually popular open-hearth cooking program, which for thirty years has drawn visitors ‘hungry’ for history. Join us on Sunday, March 6, and see why many visitors return for this wonderful tradition year after year.

New Exhibit on Maplewood

Be sure to also see the fascinating exhibit on the history of the College Hill neighborhood From Farm to Suburb: The Birth of College Hill which opened February 21.

Country Shopping

Check out our Country Store’s historic-themed treasures: early American games, books, and toys; facsimile documents; quill pens and ink; historic cookbooks; cookie molds; tin lanterns; and reproductive decorative items and ceramics. You’ll also discover the hard-to-find original Doors of Maplewood poster, Smile: A Pictorial History of Olympic Park 1887-1965, and the new acid-free reproduction of the charming 1931 Map of Maplewood. 

About Durand-Hedden House and Garden

Durand-Hedden House is dedicated to telling the history of the development of Maplewood and the surrounding area in new and engaging ways. It is located in Grasmere Park at 523 Ridgewood Road in Maplewood. For more information or to arrange group tours call 973-763-7712. You can also visit our website at durandhedden.org and find us on Facebook and Twitter.