Smokehouse

Smokehouse. . Constructed around 1830 with bricks made on the plantation by slave labor, this building served as one of Overton's smokehouses. More than just a place to preserve meats, the smokehouse symbolized the planter's ability to provide food for his family and control his slave population through rationing. The structure is located near the main house so the planter could monitor the meat supply and deter theft. , Pork has been a staple food in the South for hundreds of years. At Travellers Rest, hams and sides of bacon that could feed the plantation for up to a year hung in the smokehouse. Slaves slaughtered hogs in the late fall. They preserved the cuts of meat by salting them in troughs, such as the one displayed here, to evaporate moisture. Then they built a fire and hung the meat on these rafters. The smoke from the fire further preserved the meat and also added flavor. , Almost every part of the hog was consumed. Slaves used the hog's intestines to cook the distinctive southern dish "chitlin's," and they fried the skin to make "cracklin's." The hog's liver, tongue, and brains also found their way into the southern diet. , Now you asked about hog-killin' time? That was the time of times. For weeks, the men would haul wood and big rocks, and pile them together as high as this house, and then have several piles like that around a big hole in the ground, which had been filled with water. Then, just a little after midnight, the boss would blow the old horn, and all the men would get up and get in them pens. Then, they would start that pile of wood on fire, and then start knocking them hogs in the head. We never shot a hog like we do now. We always used an ax to kill them with. After knocking the hog in the head, they would tie a rope on his leg, and after the water got to be the right heat from those red-hot rocks, the hog would be thrown in and drug around a while then taken out and cleaned. After he was cleaned, he was cut up into sections and hung up m the smokehouse. Joseph Holmes, former slave (c. 1930)