Aug. 18, was the day the Polk Township Historical Society chose to celebrate the restoration and relocation of the Jonas Bake Oven. Exactly 156 years to the date, Jonas Snyder purchased the property that originally housed the bake oven.

According to his great-grandson, J. Lewis Snyder of Michigan, Jonas Snyder settled in Jonas, previously known as New Mechanicsville, in 1859 after having been widowed."Jonas and his brothers had sold oak mine props to the miners in the Tamaqua area, and the timber had pretty much been cleared when he headed out to settle at the foot of the Pocono Mountains," Snyder said. "His eldest son died of poisoning. As kids we used to assume he had been bit by a rattlesnake, because there were plenty of them around, but it was probably more likely blood poisoning from some injury.""He and his wife had another son and plenty of daughters, and plenty of granddaughters, so the Snyders are pretty much related to everyone around here."Much of the credit for saving the oven went to Linda Snyder of Jonas."I had gone to introduce myself to the new owners of the hotel at one point and they were considering knocking down the oven to expand the hotel. I thought, we are losing all of our history, we need to save this. I thought at the time maybe we could just move it across the street or something," said Linda Snyder.Linda Snyder said she didn't know as much of the history of the hotel and the oven as her older cousins, but she related a story her uncle told her of Sunday dinner at the hotel."My uncle told me that our family always had Sunday dinner together and that sometimes there were 100 people there. I questioned him because the dining room would only hold 20 or so people at a time. He said that people would wait to eat. He told me my grandmother would bake 25 pies in the oven and that dinner was always chicken and waffles."The oven was moved to its current location at the West End Fairgrounds and has been restored. Tuesday was proclaimed Jonas Bake Oven day by the Monroe County Commissioners. Monroe County had provided $20,000 to offset the cost of the move. The money came from the county hotel tax over a two-year period.Additional money was provided by the ESSA Foundation. Those funds were used to complete the windows and doors of the new building.Local dignitaries were on hand for the dedication ceremony and a number of proclamations were made noting that Aug. 18, 2015, would be known as Jonas Bake Oven Day.Proclamations were read by Monroe County Commissioners John Moyer and Charles Garris. Polk Township Supervisor Nancy May and Chestnuthill Supervisor Chris Eckert also read proclamations.While delivering the proclamation from the state senate, Sen. Mario Scavello, 40th District, noted the importance of preserving history."This is a wonderful thing that you have done here," he said. "Someday the children of today will put down the remotes and will be grateful that you have preserved this piece of history for them and their children."State Reps. Jack Rader, 176th District, and Rosemary Brown, 189th District, also delivered a proclamation.Norm Burger, president of both the Polk and Chestnuthill historical societies, oversaw the project after the death of his predecessor, Roger Christman.Both Burger and Linda Snyder praised Christman for his insight and dedication to the project.Burger also thanked the many members of the Burger family who helped out with various parts of the project, Harry and Ralph Koehler for materials and masonry, and Sugar Hallow Farms for the pavers and landscaping.Those present were each given a mini-loaf of bread baked in the oven by Burger himself.