Smokehouse (ca. 1877)
The use of wooden smokehouses in America dates back to the 17th century. Smokehouses were small, enclosed shelters in which a fire could be kept smoldering for days or even weeks. In the days before freeze-drying, deep-freezing and vacuum packaging, the smokehouse was one of the most important domestic outbuildings on farms.
Prior to the invention and widespread availability of "home" refrigerators (ca. 1913) people in rural areas of the country used smokehouses to preserve meats and fish for later use.
In Delaware, most smokehouses were used for smoking and preserving pork.
Hogs were slaughtered in the late fall when the weather turned cold. The butchered pork was saturated with a heavy coating of salt and was then hung from hooks within the smokehouse. A fire was started in a pit situated in the middle of the smokehouse which most commonly had a dirt floor. After several days of exposure to constant, concentrated smoke, the meat was removed and stored under the roof of the smokehouse. Smoked products could be stored for months without risk of spoiling.
The Museum's smokehouse has a wood floor where a large pot stuffed with wood was ignited, smothered, and left to smolder.
The smokehouse on the Museum grounds was originally located on a farm near Smyrna, Delaware. The building was donated to the Museum by Mr. Alfred Moore and moved to the Museum in 1982.
The smokehouse was restored to its former splendor by Cedar Rock Construction (Harrington, DE) and is open to the public.