New London _ Hempsted House staff member Aileen Novick adjusted her long red skirt and floral blouse as she got into costume for the historic location’s afternoon open hearth cooking workshop on Friday.

Tacos were welcome, but Novick joked with approximately 16 children and parents that no cellphones were allowed in this 18th-century time warp.

“Food is an interesting way to get people interested in the past. We’re trying to make the history more relevant to today, so we made modern food with a historic oven,” she said of Friday night's hearth-cooking program for children at the museum. “Cellphones, however, didn’t exist yet, so no using them while we cook.”

Novick gave a special introduction for house staff member and “cooking maven” Lorraine Ballispier, who was the main cook for the free event.

The hearth oven used was built into the Nathaniel Hempsted House in 1759 for its namesake Nathaniel Hempsted, grandson of Joshua Hempsted who kept a diary of colonial New London and its developments for nearly half a century.

City Historian Sally Ryan was also present to share stories and findings about the Hempsted family and property.

According to Novick and Ballispier, the event’s menu did include tacos, corn oysters and apple pie as more “modern” things for the children to relate to, but with an old-time twist.

The tortillas and ground beef were warmed and cooked over the open fire of the hearth while the visitors washed their hands and split into groups.

One group shucked and stripped corn to be used for corn oysters, while the other group cut up tomatoes and lettuce for the tacos.

The apples that were sliced went into an apple pie recipe that caught everyone by surprise.

“The New Haven Register had this recipe about 40 years ago, for a ‘Johnny Appleseed’ pie that had chocolate chip cookies in it and on top,” Ballispier said. “But I altered the recipe when my apple pie turned into a chocolate pie because there were too many chips. I think the few on top is just right.”

When all of the food was cooked, everyone got to eat the fruits of their labor while waiting for the pie to bake.

Some of the children and parents even helped Novick and Ballispier clean and cook a second batch of corn oysters during the downtime period.

One of the helpers was 12-year-old Ethan Black of Waterford, who helped with the final batch of corn oysters in the oven.

“I’m more interested in growing things than cooking, but I really liked this,” said Black as he checked one of the fritters to see if the rest were ready.

He then thanked Ballispier for the opportunity to get so close to cooking in an open fire.

“Usually people are not interested in learning about old history, so I think this was wonderful,” Ballispier said about the event. “This turnout was great.”

“The living history really does excite people. They like the opportunity to step back into history and get a feel for what it might’ve been like,” Novick said. “A lot of this is also becoming popular again because people want to know where their food is coming from and what’s going into it.”

As far as future plans go, the staff of the Hempsted Houses plans to host a Thanksgiving hearth cooking event sometime in November.

They also hope to host a hearth cooking workshop for adults in the future.