Crown Point
State Historic Site
518-597-3666
New York State
Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation
Saratoga-Capital Region
The Crown Point Field Bake Oven
In 1999 a Field Bake Oven was constructed on the State Historic Site near Fort St. Frederic. It is based upon research of this sort of structure conducted by a local baker, Wannig Tanguy. The oven was built by the restoration staff of the Crown Point State Historic Site with the assistance of Wannig Tanguy.
It is constructed primarily of clay, brought from Quebec. It is similar to those ovens frequently constructed for the purpose of feeding the French Army while on the march and away from a principle base of operations. The original ovens used by the French at Fort St. Frederic were constructed to bake hundreds of loaves of bread per day. This field oven is capable of baking 40-50 loaves per day.
Each French soldier was issued a ration of 1.5 livres per day (one French livre is the equivalent of 17 English ounces). Actually, the soldiers were issued their rations for several days at a time, rather than daily. Bread was a very significant part of the daily diet. Interestingly, French officers were provided with white bread, while the soldiers were issued whole wheat or rye bread. In 1748 when the Swiss naturalist Peter Kalm visited Fort St. Frederic, he notes that all the men, officers and soldiers, were issued white bread. His remarks amplify how unusual this was for the time. The bread was similar to what we now call sourdough and was made with a greyish wheat flour, without yeast. In Europe, the French army bread often was a mixture of wheat and rye flours. On long distance forays away from this base, the soldiers were frequently issued a hard bread, similar to the U. S. Army biscuit of the Civil War, known as hardtack.
Three bakers, one a Master Baker and two millers were known to have been at Fort St. Frederic. Guillaume Caseneuve dit Toulouse (William Caseneuve called Toulouse) served here from 1748 through 1752. He was called Toulouse as he was from a part of southern France near the city of Toulouse. After serving here he moved back to Quebec and died at Point a Levis in 1760.
Ignace Bosse (Bosset or Boisse) served at Fort St. Frederic from 1749 through 1759. He was from Cap Saint Ignace, a parish on the south side of the St. Lawrence below Quebec. He was actually married at Fort St. Frederic in 1751 and they settled on a plot of land near present day Addison, Vermont. Following the abandonment of the fort to the English in 1759, he and his family resettled near St. Charles sur Richelieu.
The Master Baker was Jean-Baptiste Gagnier. Other than his presence as a witness at the baptism of a child at Fort St. Frederic in 1758, little is known of him now.
Near the site of the Champlain Memorial the French constructed a fortified windmill. It was intended to be used not only for grinding grain but as an advanced post with a long view up the lake, or the river as it was know then, to detect any advancing English force. The French fortified this area to control the traveling on the lake, the only significant "highway" then. The windmill was built in 1740 and for some time, grain was shipped up the lake from Montreal to be ground in the windmill. It was intended to help the settlers and soldiers living near Fort St. Frederic until their crops were established.
The first miller was Jean Gillaume Darabi. He served here from 1740 through 1752. The second was Richard Voyer (Soyer). He served here from 1752 through 1758.
On several occasions Wannig Tanguy will bake bread on the grounds using this oven. The photographs shown here were taken in April when the mold or form was burned out. This form was built to help maintain the inside shape of the oven while the clay was added, layer by layer. Once the clay hardened and the front was enclosed by the iron doors, the form could not be easily removed. Since the oven had to be fired to "cure" the clay, it was actually an appropriate way to "remove" the form. Although the bread dough was prepared elsewhere, it was allowed to rise in the custom made breadbox. It was formed into what would become approximately 6 pound loaves of bread. Not only did bread get baked in this oven; a complete meal was also cooked in it.
Credits: Andre Gousse - Parks Canada, Dr. Andre Sencecal - UVM, Wannig Tanguy - Crown Point Bakery