In 1873 there was no air conditioning, in-door toilets or electricity. So how to store your vegetables? A root cellar! Root cellars are for keeping food supplies at a low temperature and steady humidity. They keep food from freezing during the winter and keep food cool during the summer months to prevent spoilage.
The root cellar at the house was apparently not used after the kitchen had burned down around the turn of the 20th century. Soon thereafter electricity and refrigeration were in use taking the place of the need for root cellars.
Upon purchase of the house it was apparent that the cellar was used to dump trash and it flooded. Here is a shot of the flooding before anything was done.
It took a couple of months in 2010 to dig out all the trash, bricks, rocks and some treasures found. It was probably about two tons of materials removed.
This shot shows the room cleaned up all the way to the original floor. The original floor was completely covered by river rocks. A few are shown here.
After a couple of years we had to find a way to utilize this room. So we had some stairs built. The flooding is still an issue so this is treated wood.
Next step.....gravel to coat the floor.
Here is an example of the type of flooding with heavy rains. Lucky we have a good pump.
And finally a good work shop is now in place. Everything is up on boards or bricks to keep from being ruined by the flooding.
From the outside new shutters for the root cellar. The wood for these shutters came from 100 year old timbers.
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