A Sense of Community

And when I have broken the staff of your life, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven - Leviticus 26:26

Just a cool little cooking related site off the road on our way to Caroga Lake. It's on Rte 167 just after it pulls away from Rte. 5 and the Mohawk River, outside of Little Falls. There is a sign on 167, letting you know it's there, but we hadn't stopped. When we weren't focused on getting to or from, the weather was bad.

Not this time. There was a forbidding looking chain across the entrance but otherwise a short, slightly-downhill path led to the site complete with an informational sign tellin the story of the oven.


In 1891 or so Alfred Dolge, a local industrialist, built a railroad from Little Falls to the uncreatively named Dolgeville.To do the construction he brought over a group of bachelor Italian immigrants who gathered in camps. The ovens were used to bake bread - often 150 loves a day. You can read more about about it here and there is a brief Wikipedia mention here.

The construction appears to be that of a standard stone cobb-type

oven, fired with wood. It may have been direct fire, or that might be a firebox to the side. There is a metal damper control to the upper left. The photo at the bottom prior to the restoration done by a group called Preserve our Past. I hope they are able to do more.

Makes me glad that people are taking an interest in this type of history. I knew ovens of this type existed in the old world, but never heard of one here.

If you are in the area, it's worth a quick stop.