BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Baking has been part of Bethlehem’s story for nearly 300 years, and now, thanks to a new exhibit, you can get an inside look at historic traditions like its famous “sugar cake.”
69 News Reporter Sydney Kay has the story from the city’s “Baked into Bethlehem” exhibit with an inside look at the city’s baking culture.
Mark Steigelman, Exhibitions/Programming Director with Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites, said the exhibit at the Moravian Museum and Kemerer Museum features the history of baking in the city, from the early beehive ovens to today.
Steigelman said the exhibit has several rooms, including an easy bake oven room! The exhibit features the toys from when they were first introduced in 1963 to now, as well as older advertisements for them.
Another part of the museum features a room modeled after a 1930’s kitchen, which has an enameled, cast iron smooth top Vulcan oven. The kitchen also has a Hoosier cabinet, which dates to about the late 1910’s and would have been used until the 1930’s.
The museum features a stories archive, where people can put their family recipes and baking experiences in the city. The archive info goes to the Library of Congress Folk Life Center, and it becomes a part of the public record, he said.
Richard Groman with Groman’s Bakery, who is a tour presenter at the museum, said his grandfather started the bakery in 1927. Meeting all the customers is the best part of working at the bakery, he said.
He gives lectures about the bakery and baking in the Lehigh Valley in general.
Visitors to the exhibit can also check out a pie rolling machine from 1945. Gorman said his grandfather bought the machine after World War II.
The exhibit runs through July 26.