24. Sylvester's Bakery
Soon you will see Sylvester's Bakery. This bakery is a landmark for a number of reasons. The first is that it marks the end (or in this case the beginning) of what used to be called Main Road, Cessnock. As mentioned previously, Main road was the retail area of Cessnock for many years in the early history of the town.
Sylvester's Bakery has been a part of Cessnock since 1919, after originally starting at Wollombi in 1904 when teams of bullocks would deliver bread as far away as Maitland. It is the only “old style” bakery left in NSW and one of only six in Australia. It is also the only bakery in Australia to still use “tokens” to purchase bread. Tokens are bought in bulk from the bakery then left in exchange for loaves of bread. Leaving 3 tokens on the back porch asked the delivery person to leave 3 loaves, and so on.
The family Sylvester is still very much involved in the history of the area today.
