When I was curator of education at Monmouth County Historical Association (NJ), back in the 1990s, we frequently did open hearth cooking programs at the Covenhoven House in Freehold. Once a week from we did a cooking program for school groups which was always fully booked, with interpreters in period clothing, using reproduction cooking gear [Dutch ovens, spider skillets, grid irons, et al.]. And we did an annual "Open Hearth, Open House" public program on the day after Thanksgiving, which usually attracted 500 to 750 visitors in a day. The local fire department regularly inspected the fireplace for us, and led fire safety workshops for the interpreters. According to the MCHA website, [http://www.monmouth.com/~mcha/education.htm ] they're still offering the open hearth school program. Pat McDermott Development Officer Newark Public Library >I have a question for those historic sites that are doing living >history. What are the thoughts on doing open hearth cooking in >historic structures? Are there any sites that do this? Any legal >issues involved with this? If any sites are doing this, were there >insurance issues? > >Sharon Maguire >========================================================= Important >Subscriber Information: >The Museum-L FAQ file is located at >http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed >information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail >message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message >should read "help" (without the quotes). >If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail >message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message >should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).