Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 10: BUILT ENVIRONMENT (Physical Plant)
Smoke House
c. 1910s – 1940s
Smoke House in use, 1920s-1940s. [III_23_002.jpg]
SMOKE HOUSE, c. 1910s – 1940s
TAGS: smoke house, built environment, curing meat, food preservation, Laurel House, pork ham, smoked meats
Little remains of the smoke house that was used to cure meat during the first three decades of Pine Mountain School. The base of the small house and the fire block are located across Limestone Creek, to the east side of Laurel House. Now largely overgrown with vegetation and almost lost to view, the remains of the small house can be seen on either side of the small tree in the photograph below.
The fire was maintained in the unit to the right of the image and the foundation of the smoke house can be seen to the left of the image. Pipes carried the smoke into the small building where the meat was preserved by a combination of salt and smoking.
The smokehouse provided a means to cure various meats, particularly ham, for the School kitchen. It was located close to the original Laurel House, the center of dining and food preparation, which burned in 1939. It is not clear if the smokehouse was destroyed or if it was allowed to disintegrate due to lack of use in the later years of the School. Like the root cellar, on the backside of the same hill and also close to Laurel House, the smokehouse could be tended by students as part of their work programs.
Foundations and remains of early smoke house used by Pine Mountain School to cure various meats. Photo courtesy Elanor Brawner, Nov. 2014. [DSC00882.jpg]
SMOKE HOUSE: Butchering
The butchering of meat was a common occurrence at the School. Most often the butchered animal was a pig, but turkey, chickens, and steer were also regularly prepared and served to students and to staff. The process of butchering was also included in the industrial training classes of the School as seen in this photograph of instruction on cuts of meat taken by the Harmon Foundation photographer, Virginia Garner, for the School in 1941.
Country Cottage, interior view. Thanksgiving dinner for staff at the home of William and Fern Hayes. (Country Cottage). (left to right) Georgia Dodd, (?), Ella Wilder, Mr. H.R.S. Benjamin, Mrs. H.R.S. Benjamin, Steven Hayes (child), William Hayes carving turkey, Helen Hayes (child), Margaret Motter?, Brit Wilder, (?). c. 1944.[X_100_workers_2644_mod.jpg]
William Hayes Photograph Album. Pig ready for cleaning and butchering, c. 1940s. [hay_IMAG0148_mod.jpg]
Butchering a Pig. Selected Exhibit Photographs. Shows the simple traditional angled structure used for hanging the pig during the butuchering process. [misc_exhibit_015.jpg]
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