I think a lot depends, too, on your State regs. There is a historic site in New York State which was owned by a private organization, but was recently taken over by the State of NY. The State no longer allows cooking demos to be done in the historic structure- they are only allowed in the modern fireplace in the recently constructed visitor's center, or outside. Another large museum in the same state, which has many historic homes moved in from all over the region, regulary debates the ethics of using the historic structures for cooking demos, especially since they lost the entire(reproduction, thankfully- but they did lose a lot of original cooking equipment) kitchen wing of a Greek Revival home about 10-12 years ago. The curators shudder at the concept, but the public really enjoys seeing demos in the proper context, rather than having a modern building with a reproduction kitchen inside it for cooking demos. It's an ongoing debate.
Regards,
Jane Oakes
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