It had been three decades since our brick ovens were fired up to deliver fresh gingerbread cookies to customers at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery. But now, when you walk through the doors, you can once again expect to be enveloped in a cloud of nostalgia. That’s right. They’re baaaack!
The return of onsite baking was a vision that started straight at the top. And Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Mitchell B. Reiss was there Tuesday morning as the first batch of warm cookies came out of the oven. Turning Dr. Reiss’ vision into a reality required a collaborative effort from departments all across the Foundation and it was an exciting adventure to get to witness firsthand.
In all, there were roughly half a dozen after-hours tests (most involving cookies) that led up to this moment. The Making History blog team was included in this project early on so that we could document the behind-the-scenes moments and track the progress to share with you. These meetings of the minds involved Director of Historic Hospitality Seth Farrell, Master Blacksmith Ken Schwarz, Historic Foodways Journeyman Cook Barbara Scherer, Head Pastry Chef Rodney Diehl, Manager of Building Trades Ernie Clements, and Manager of Mechanical Trades Chris Anderson (just to name a few).
Initially (as you can expect), there were some questions and concerns. After all, our ovens hadn’t been used since the early 1980s. Would the chimney work after remaining cold for so many decades? Could the bricks in the oven possibly collapse? And what about the refrigerated drink units? How would they hold up with all that heat emitted from the ovens?
We saw some of these concerns play out. The second time the ovens were fired up, there was smoke… and a whole lot of it! As predicted, the chimney initially wouldn’t draft, so smoke quickly filled the room, with us in it. (In fact, our camera still carries the lingering scent of a campfire). But with each use and each warmer day, this problem eventually worked itself out. We also brought the flue in a couple of inches to help force some of the smoke to pull up the chimney better.
Another issue to contend with was the heat—both in the oven and in the room. We used an infrared digital thermometer to monitor just how hot the bricks were getting every time the ovens were fired up. We recorded readings from the chimney, the back of the ovens, and even the surrounding walls. And now that we’ve started baking for hours at a time, we’ll continue to keep an eye on the bricks to make sure they can hold up under production.
While the bakery is now air conditioned (unlike in the 80s), those fires still put out some serious heat! And the windows in the back have to stay open to help circulate the air. Barbara tells me on a really hot summer day, our ovens can easily raise the temperature inside to 30 or 40 degrees above the outside temp. It won’t affect you as a customer, but can you imagine standing directly in front of them, baking cookies? Fortunately, this isn’t Barbara’s first rodeo. She cooks under these conditions daily in the kitchens at the Governor’s Palace and Anderson’s Armoury.
In addition to the heat, she has learned to rely on instinct and experience rather than timers and temperature gauges to determine when her food is done. She told me it will take a few consistent batches to learn the quirks of each oven, a process similar to what we face when we cook in an unfamiliar kitchen.
For now, they plan to light each fire one at a time so that when one oven starts to lose heat, the other is ready to use. Once the fires are lit, the flames burn down for about two hours. Barbara then circles the coals for 30 minutes before removing them so the oven can cool to its ideal temperature for baking. It takes roughly 20 minutes to bake a pan of 28 cookies. You can bake two pans before you have to start the process all over again. So that first batch–from lighting the fire to pulling out the finished cookies—takes roughly three hours. Talk about a labor of love!
As for the recipe? It’s the same one Head Pastry Chef Rodney Diehl shared with us last year, but he says those baked in a brick oven have more of a “caramel” taste. Chef actually worked in this very same kitchen in the 70s when he was just 16 years old. He returned to Colonial Williamsburg in the early 80s and tells me at that time, they were cranking out a thousand fresh-baked cookies from the Raleigh Tavern Bakery, every day! For now, we’re taking baby steps and will serve 300-500 every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Each cookie costs $1.50 and will be sold on a first come-first serve basis. However, once the fresh-baked batches run out, you’ll still be able to purchase the prepackaged ones made from our same delicious recipe.
UPDATE: The Raleigh Tavern Bakery is now baking gingerbread cookies fresh every morning from 9 a.m. to noon—seven days a week!
What are your favorite memories of the Raleigh Tavern Bakery? Do you remember visiting when the cookies were fresh-baked? Share your stories below in our comments and please enjoy a trip down memory lane with the images we pulled from our archives. Some date all the way back to the 1960s!
Althea Barnslater Fackrell says
I am from Virginia. My first experience was as a fourth grade student on a history field trip. We saw the ginger cakes being cooked the way it was in the past. At the end of the lecture we enjoyed a cake. I took my children and my nieces and nephews for a tour each summer break. They didn’t get to see the ovens but they got to taste the cakes. I purchased the recipe book so that I could make the cakes for the winter holidays.
I introduced my Idahoan co-workers to the delicious cakes. Now I am expected to make them at the beginning of the winter season. What I get for introducing people to my history.
Does anyone know if these molds are from this bake shop? I just found them at an antique shop in Connecticut I would love to know what the molds are made from and if I could really use them in the oven for gingerbread.
Bill Lewis says
The fact that it says “Mold” on it indicates it’s more than likely just that, a mold. Therefore, the mold would be used to press its pattern on the raw cookie dough, forming the detail prior to baking. But, you probably know that by now. Happy baking!
Excellent! I remember these cookies being baked at the Raleigh Tavern when I attended W&M in the early 1980s.
I visited several times in the past couple of decades and they didn’t seem like the same cookies that I
remembered. Thank you for bringing back the on-site baking! That practice never should have been stopped.
Tanya Wohner says
Yes way back in the 60’s our family lived at Fortress Monroe and almost weekly this teenager would drive to Williamsburg for scrumpdeliush gingerbread cookies freshly baked and warm right oven. There is nothing in the world like just one of these cookies. Well Done bakers at the Raleigh Tavern, well done! Keep up the good work.
Y-E-S-S-S-S-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The aroma of those cookies baking! I ate my first one back in August 1960! They had 2 kinds of gingerbread men - simple, and then the 17th c looking gentleman. I was SO disappointed when they stopped making them - the Fat Boys just aren’t the same. I was told that there used to be fist fights at Christmas time over the gingerbread men, so they stopped baking them. I remember loaves of bread, and in particular a loaf of white bread that tasted kind of sweet - the nearest I could figure is that there was some mace in it. LOVELY taste!
THANK YOU for bringing back baking the gingerbread cookies in the bakery. Even if we don’t manage to snag some, the aroma alone is worth waiting in line! Next: PLEASE bring back the Shrewsbury cakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Double Gloucester cheese! And the Marchpane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seeing and hearing CW makes for a great experience - but smelling and tasting takes it over the top, and obviously remains in children’s minds for years. Creates a long, long line of repeat CW customers!
Thank you - and Happy New Year!
I remember goimg as a young child in the late 60’s and 70’s. Always loved the gingerbread, couldn’t wait to get it. Then moved to Fla and took a school trip in the 9th grade and once again first place I went was to get a cookie and of course everybody followed, havent been in years but intend to come again very soon, can’t wait
I lived in the area the 1960s and 1970s and had gingerbread in Williamsburg many times. Some people have mentioned “gingerbread men” but the gingerbread I had wasn’t a gingerbread man and it also didn’t look like the pictures of the new cookies. It was completely flat and it was a round shape but with a scalloped edge. Where those made some place other than Raleigh Tavern Bakery? I remember the shape very distinctly.
The cookies that were brought in just weren’t the same! So glad the fresh baked cookies are back. I’m sure the lines will be long, but well worth the wait. The fresh warm cookies were always a highlight of our trips. I’m sad that my father is no longer with us to enjoy them. And the aroma wafting from the tavern! Amazing!
My mom always liked to tell the story of the first time my parents brought us to Colonial Williamsburg. Friends thought they were crazy to bring such young children and said we wouldn’t appreciate or understand any of it.
The first night at the hotel, we asked my mom why the rolling pin that was used at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery was different from the one she had at home. She realized then, that their friends were wrong, and we were noticing and learning.
Yes yes yes this was such a wonderful memory of CW. We have been coming there for 40+ years. Our family is thrilled to hear this news. We are planning a trip there soon. We will be first in line. The ones sold there recently were just not the same
Hi quick question in my twenties now and visited williamsburg every year as a child up to 2009. A hot spot for my family was the Raleigh tavern bakery where we had oatmeal cookies and root beers. Is this the same tavern, but now ginger cookies are made? I was curious why it said onsite baking has returned, because the oatmeal cookies were always made there, thanks
Hopefully the process will be figured out shortly, so that these amazing cookies will soon be in Full Production (none of this “First Come” on two days a week bit!). Petersburg High School is having its MEGA Reunion (alumni from 1960-1970) in Williamsburg in September 2015, and many of us have fond memories of eating the Raleigh Tavern’s wonderful gingerbread men and hard crust bread as these treats came fresh out of the oven, when we visited with our parents, and on school trips. Please don’t disappoint your many fans, who are looking forward the smell, the taste, and the memories!
Why did they stop making them in the 80s?
I recall being told at the time that historians found that gingerbread man shaped cookies were not authentic to the era and so they had to go. I was a child at the time and my mother had promised me a delicious cookie during our visit. Isn’t it weird the things we remember. Now did they used to be gingerbread man shaped?
This is wonderful news. As someone who uses bake ovens and cooking hearths, I would like to suggest that the air conditioning system could contribute to the smoke problem.
What time, on Tuesdays & Thursday’s, do you start selling?
The bakery opens at 9:00 and this morning, the first batch came out of the oven just before 10! It depends on when they get in to light the fires. I’d say if you got there around 9:45, you wouldn’t have to wait long!
I am delighted that the cookie baking has returned to the Raleigh Tavern Bakery! My parents brought us on the first of countless family trips to CW in the 1960’s when my sister and I were 6 and 9 years old. Our fondest memories include our afternoon “treat” of warm gingerbread cookies straight out of the oven at the bakery. Now my children and grandchildren, who love CW as much as I do, can experience that warm cookie goodness that I talk about every time we enter the Raleigh Tavern Bakery. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing, Kari. I hope you make it down with your kids and grandkids soon for another visit so you can all share the experience together!
I so enjoy these recipes and history lessons on food!! Thank you for great photos too!
You’re welcome, Jan. And thank you so much for reading! You may have already noticed but we have a page on the blog that lists all of our recipe/food posts we’ve done. http://makinghistorynow.com/recipes/
Yep, I remember them on a class trip in the year 1973. The smell was luring, and even though I was not an avid fan of gingerbread, they were simply delicious!!
I agree, Ginger. The smell is almost just as much a part of the experience as the taste! p.s. I couldn’t help but giggle at the fact that your name is Ginger and you don’t like gingerbread. 🙂
I worked in that bakery - summers of ’84 and ’85 full time and part time the school year in between. I was on the sales side, but it was incredibly hot there when the ovens were on. No AC, not even a fan! I know those ovens were still being used in ’85 because I was there, selling Maids of Honor cakes and other items they baked there.
The first time I was in CW was 1966. I was a Junior in high school. I bought two dozen. The second dozen made it home to the Chicago area. The first dozen, well, luckily CW was our last stop on the trip. My clothes were a smidge snug on the trip home the next morning.
I remember a school field when the teacher was given a big gingerbread man cookie to be shared back at school. I remember riding bike into town for a lemonade & cookies. So excited that cookies are being made back on site hoping they will not be plastic wrapped.
I have a horseshoe with my name on it from the Blacksmithe shop from a field trip, also. I use it as a paper weight on my desk. Any chance they will be be offered again?
These particular cookies baked on Tuesday and Thursday are being served in individual bags right as they come out of the oven.
I hear you, Christine! It’s definitely hard to eat just one. If you ever do make it home with any leftovers, they freeze well!