Backyard Baking in Montville

Cookin' up the history - This spring, dozens of Montville third-graders are expected to troop across Elizabeth Menzies' patio to learn about local history.  Just steps from the Menzies' back door is a 230-year-old out- kitchen -- a small stone structure built by one of the township's early settlers. Menzies has donated the tiny building, which she once used as a shed, to the township as a historic site.

The 12-by-14-foot kitchen has stone walls, a brick oven in the shape of a beehive and a small iron crane that was used to move cooking pots to and from the fire.  Out-kitchens were often found in the South, where they were used in the summer to keep the home cooler. They were not commonplace in New Jersey and would have been built by a family of some means, said Kathy Fisher, chair of the Montville Township Historical Society.  Fisher believes it may be one of only a few stone out-kitchens left in the county.  See Star Ledger.