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Park Ovens in Minnesota
Last substantial update to this pages was on 09/03/2010.
My excitement with brick ovens began when I stumbled across the web site for Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto. The whole idea of a community oven was and still is very exciting to me.
(For cob ovens, I was excited when I found the site for Shell Lake Park. This showed how easy it be to build a cob oven in a park.)
Currently there are a few ovens in Minnesota that are in public parks. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the public cannot in general use these ovens.
Eventually I hope that St. Paul can have a community oven like Toronto (which, I believe, has ovens in at least seven of their parks).
Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, MN and Forts Folle Avoine near Danbury, WI have built ovens while I have been maintaining these pages.
The future for park ovens continues to look promising.
Historical Fort Snelling
Historical Fort Snelling contains the oldest wood-fired brick oven in Minnesota. It’s still a working oven, in a limited sense. I believe it dates from 1827 (or earlier). It was used to bake 300 loaves of bread a day, enough for a loaf for every person at the fort.
The Minnesota Historical Society is responsible for running the fort. Sometimes they teach a class on baking bread in the ovens at the fort.
If there were a class scheduled, it would be visible at this link.
There was a class on Sept. 13, 2008, but I don’t see another class scheduled at any future time (as of Oct. 1, 2008).
Gale Woods Farm
Tim Reese, the site manager for Gale Woods Farm decided to build a clay oven.
It was built during a “folks school” class at Gale Woods Farm in June and July of 2008.
This was a cob oven design based on Kiko Denzer’s plans.
There are a couple of photo galleries from two of the three weeks of oven construction.
The oven is built on a trailer so it can be taken into shelter when it needs it or out to where the oven needs to be for different events.
One of those events was a harvest festival on the weekend of Oct. 11 and 12, 2008. I was there baking Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. I made 40 lbs. of dough without a mixer for making calzones and bread.
In 2009 there was another oven-building class in June. They built a smaller clay oven.
Members of the SPBC also built a couple of stacked brick ovens.
There is now a video feature about our work building ovens on-line thanks to our local television station, KARE-11. This link provides access to the feature itself. There had been a page containing a promo for the feature, but they took that page off-line.
In 2009, the harvest festival is Oct. 10 and 11. (I don’t think I can be there this year.)
Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument has a “Quebec-style” wood-fired clay oven. Apparently they fire it up for their Rendezvous Days and Pow Wow.
In July, 2009, there was an oven-building class taught by Kiko Denzer sponsored by North House Folk School, Earthen Oven Building and Baking (Preserving the Past), that apparently built multiple clay ovens.
These ovens used “several times a week May-Oct.”
The Landing
Jefferson Spilman, the site manager for The Landing, allowed SPBC members to build a stacked brick oven using brick available there.
Four of us did this on May 14, 2009. The oven was temporary, but worth recording. Some photo galleries (1, 2, 3) record our efforts at oven building and bread and pizza baking.
In mid-June, 2009, the bricks that made up the oven oven were relocated to Gale Woods Farm.
Old Crossing Treaty Park
A Google Alert informed me of an event at Old Crossing Treaty Park near Red Lake Falls, MN. The article said in part, “Aug. 29 – 8:45 a.m.: Firing of the earthen bread oven. Bread baking throughout the day will be directed by Jane Vigness and Marjorie LaCoursiere.” (The full article from the Grand Forks Tribune went behind a pay wall.) The article said the oven was built in 2007 from local materials.
A picture of the oven and the article text indicate that the oven is a Quebec-style cob oven.
Silverwood Park
The oven at Silverwood Park was completed and ready to use in May, 2010.
There was a pizza party for the architecture students who built it (and some of their classmates) on May 10, 2010, and a “Family Pizza Night” on May 14, 2010. (One person wrote on the Park’s Facebook page that they should have the pizza night every month.)
The 2010 SPBC Picnic was at the Silverwood Park oven on Aug. 8, 2010.
- Third Annual SPBC Picnic – Sandra von Holtum pictures
- Third Annual SPBC Picnic – Judy Dickerson pictures
At present, the landscaping around the oven does not meet with the park’s standards for programming. The park supervisor has met with park landscape architects to get proposals for how to upgrade the area around the oven, but the changes needed are not likely to be made in 2010.
That means the oven is not available for park programming or rental at the current time. (If using the oven might be of interest to you, you should let them know.)
Park Ovens Elsewhere
Forts Folle Avoine
Forts Folle Avoine in Danbury, Wisconsin built a clay oven in 2009.
According to e-mail I received from Al Johnson the oven at the Fort is now available for public use by making a reservation at Forts Folle Avoine. There will be a minimal charge (to cover firewood and get a little for the Fort) and at least 1 person in the group will have to attend a training firing on the oven. Contact Al Johnson to arrange for a training day.
Location is at Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park located between Webster and Danbury, WI. on Co. Rd U. The address is 8500 County Road U, Danbury, WI 54830.
From Wisconsin 35 turn West on Co. U 3 miles on the right. If you get to the river you missed it! Twin Cities folks will probably take I-35 to Hinkley, MN-48 east to Danbury, and WI-35 south to U. (Don’t get lost at the Casinos; no clay ovens there!)
For more directions and a map go to www.theforts.org. (No info there on the project, though.)
Contact person at Forts Folle Avoine is Steve Wierschem, Director at the Fort, phone (715) 866-8890, weekdays 9:30-4:00.
Saskatoon Western Development Museum
I saw some “oven news” that mentioned a clay oven as part of the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon. After contacting them via e-mail, I was told that they indeed have a clay oven. Since I inquired they have created a page describing their oven.
So, if you happen to be in the right part of Canada, stop in for a visit.
Western Development Museum - 1910 Boomtown
2610 Lorne Avenue South
Saskatoon, SK S7J 0S6Phone: (306) 931-1910
Fax: (306) 934-0525Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village
I saw some “oven news” that mentioned a brick oven as part of the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village but their web site didn’t give any details and they were not responsive to e-mail.