Settlers used beehive ovens to bake many kinds of foods, and these ovens, named for their shape, were simple to build from clay and straw, inexpensive, efficient, and easy to use. A small chimney was sometimes added to vent smoke if the ratio of dome to door did not work properly, although this reduced efficiency. A hardwood fire was built on the oven floor, with smoke venting from the upper part of the front opening while fresh air entered through the lower part. The oven could reach about 950 degrees in two hours; then the fire was raked out, the floor was damp mopped, and the oven held heat for about 8 hours. Bread and cakes were cooked directly on the floor first, while roasts and slower-cooking foods were prepared later as the temperature dropped. While traveling to new homes in frontier settlements such as those around Fort Yargo, settlers cooked over open fires, and after establishing farms they still often cooked outdoors during hot summer days, though most women valued having a home with a hearth. The hearth fire was rarely allowed to go out because families relied on it for cooking, heat in cooler months, and evening light. On frontier farms, women cooked most of the family’s food, though everyone helped by gathering firewood, hauling water, plucking chickens, and harvesting fruits, berries, and vegetables. The woman of the house directed the kitchen, beginning early with the day’s first substantial meal, sometimes making bread or preserving foods afterward, then preparing the large midday meal and often a simpler evening meal. One-pot dishes such as soups and stews were common, and meats were roasted in front of, rather than over, a roaring fire to produce a caramelized crust, a juicy interior, and strong flavor. A swinging crane built into the hearth held hooks for pots over the fire, irons could support a spit for roasting fowl or small game, and bake kettles could be used for rising bread, baking, and roasting meat and vegetables. Early settlers’ homes sometimes had clay- or mud-covered stick or log chimneys with crossbars or lugpoles cut from green wood, and when these later dried and broke, cooking pots could fall into the fire and cause serious burns or broken bones.