Christopher Ludwick (1720-1801), a native of Hesse-Darmstadt in the German-speaking region of central Europe, established a bakery in Philadelphia in 1754. Ludwick would later take an active role in the American revolutionary movement and serve as Superintendent of Bakers in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. His descendants carefully preserved this carved wooden cookie board, or mold, as a memento of their ancestor's role in the founding of the United States.