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Outdoor Oven or Horno

Outdoor hornos were used for large roasts and baking bread. Housed at the Autry Museum and referred to as the Menendez Adobe, artist Eva Scott Fenyes painted several watercolors of the Leonis Adobe and surrounding structures in 1915. Fenyes’ watercolor of Miguel’s horno shows that it was originally located near the dovecote and chicken pens. The current horno is smaller than the original and is located closer to the kitchen. Made of local limestone and adobe bricks, the original horno was twice as large as our current oven and was not sheltered. The present-day horno sits under a wood covering specifically built for protection against rain.

The horno does not have a chimney; all the heat was meant to be kept in. Wood was burned inside the large cavity until it was hot enough for cooking. The fire was built inside the deep opening and the embers were either pushed to the back or around the sides. Meat or dough were placed inside the horno with two large, long-handled wooden spatulas. Once the oven door was closed, meat could be cooked, or bread baked within an hour. Miguel Leonis employed two Frenchmen solely for baking golden loaves for both the family and the dozens of ranch hands he employed.

The stone barbecue near the horno was built by the Agoure family in the 1920s.

Leonis Adobe Museum Historic Home and Ranch
  1. The Leonis Adobe House
  2. Miguel Leonis, The Big Basque
  3. Espiritu Chijulla Leonis
  4. Marcelina Leonis
  5. Juan Menendez
  6. Living Room
  7. Corner Cabinets
  8. Piano
  9. Dining Room
  10. Kitchen
  11. Cellar and Pantry
  12. Upper Rear Hallway
  13. Menendez Room
  14. Espiritu's Bedroom
  15. Sewing Room
  16. Front Upstairs Veranda
  17. Outdoor Oven or Horno
  18. Oak Tree
  19. Poultry and Doves
  20. Guinea Hens
  21. Turkeys
  22. Barn and Blacksmith Shop
  23. Carriages and Buggies
  24. Miguel's Land and Property Map
  25. Bath House
  26. Laundry Area
  27. Well and Windmill
  28. Tank House and Water Tank
  29. Orsua Room
  30. Vineyard
  31. Fruit Trees
  32. Vegetable Garden
  33. Longhorn Cattle
  34. Merino Sheep
  35. Nubian and Angora Goats
  36. Percheron Draft Horses
  37. Farm Implements
  38. Wagons
  39. Outhouses
  40. The Plummer House