Feeding the farm family: Domestic outbuildings and traditional food ways in the Blue Ridge

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Sep 2002 by Wyatt, Sherry Joines

Apples also could be kept for several months in a cool, dark environment such as the cellar. Additionally, food that did not respond well to drying, such as potatoes and onions, could be easily kept in this building. The cellar was particularly important on farms that were established before 1920. Thus, the Gambill farm (established circa 1885) (Figure 3) and the CheekTruitt farm (established circa 1880) have fine examples of cellars. These cellars have two notable features. First, they are almost invariably built out of fieldstone (often dry-laid). Second, the cellars are constructed into a hillside. This use of the available topography provided natural insulation that kept the cellars an even, cool temperature.

Later farms such as the Garfield Truitt farm, illustrate changes in the cellar concept. Here, the springhouse has been partially constructed of stone and concrete (although the upper portion is frame) and the building is used as a combination cellar and springhouse. After electricity became available in the 1940s, the building served as a pumphouse.

In addition to the cellar, pickling was a primary method of food preservation. Beans, cabbage (sauerkraut), cucumber, beets, and corn on the cob could all be easily preserved in a vinegar brine. Lula Crouse packed corn in eight-gallon stoneware crocks (referred to as jars by oral history participants), covered the cobs with vinegar, and set the crock in the spring trough to keep cool. Similarly, "printed" (molded) butter could also be packed in large crocks, covered with salt water, and cooled in the springhouse. Thus prepared, the butter would survive a trip to a larger town, such as Galax, where it was sold.

Lula Crouse's method of packing pickled corn in large crocks for storage in the springhouse is indicative of a method of food preservation that has a direct link to the built environment of the farm. Before the turn of the twentieth century, food was preserved in the springhouse. It was stored in large stoneware crocks and placed in the wooden spring trough or box, where the continuously running, cold spring water kept the food fresh. Some of the older oral history participants recalled that this method could even be employed in the summer to keep a small amount of mutton fresh.9 This would be virtually the only fresh meat, other than poultry, a family might enjoy during the summer months.

A strong, cold spring and a good springhouse were critical to the family's food supply. The cooler the spring water, the longer the food stayed fresh. The springhouse at the Tyre Crouse farm is a relatively long, frame building (Figure 4). It is sheathed with clapboard and has a side gable roof Gable front examples are also common. Inside, the spring runs the length of the building in a wooden trough. Some springhouses, such as this one, were outfitted with screen doors to allow ventilation in the summer. When asked to describe life growing up on her parents' farm, Lillie Crouse Edw ards' initial response included this comment: