other historic buildings

In addition to the Dairy Barn, we have several other historic buildings on our property.

The Springhouse

A springhouse is a small building commonly found in rural areas before the advent of electric refrigeration. It is usually a one room building constructed over the source of a spring. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the springhouse throughout the year. The main use of a springhouse is for the long-term storage of food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit or dairy products. Pioneers looked for a spring and built their homes near it. It kept their thirst (and that of their animals) satisfied and their food from spoiling. It was the only refrigeration known for years. A stone trough was built in the spring house. Through it ran cold, slow-flowing spring water. Earthenware crocks of milk were placed, neck deep, in the water. It is always cool in the springhouse, even on the warmest of days. A gourd dipper hung in it so that men coming in from the hot fields could stop for a draft of cold water.

The Raw Milk Storage House

The dairy stored their raw milk in round milk containers with no seams to avoid a place where bacteria could grow and contaminate the milk. These were stored in the milk house until the milk truck came to pick up the milk for processing. The floor of this house is sunk so that water from the spring could run onto the bottom and create a “pool” of ground temperature (55 degrees) water to keep the milk cool.

The Tobacco Barn

When we purchased this land, the tobacco barn was mostly open on the road side as well as open on both ends as its primary function was to provide ventilation by allowing the warm breezes to circulate through the barn to dry the hanging tobacco leaves. We finished enclosing this barn, added additional roofing (especially after losing a number of sheets to a tremendous wind storm), cleared out the tobacco infrastructure and added electricity. Water also needed to be diverted away from the barn. A chicken coop was added as well as a small loft area for drying garlic and onions and for storage.