It seems a good fire always goes hand and hand with the great outdoors.  I recently learned about a special kind of outdoor fireplace. These type of fireplaces are called Rumford fireplaces.

What is a Rumford fireplace?  Well, they are tall and shallow to reflect more heat.  They were named after a count Rumford who was born in 1753 in Massachusetts.  He was known for the work he did on heat.  They were really popular during the early part of the 1800’s.  If you think about it they didn’t have fancy blowers like we do today for fireplaces.  The design allowed for maximum heat in the room.  In fact, Jefferson installed them at Monticello.

They are good for using outdoors as well because typically you don’t want to run electricity to the fireplace on your patio, but you want maximum heat for those cool autumn nights outside.

The picture to the left was designed by Nicki Moffat and was featured in Sunset magazine in 2003.