03.22 WB pages 01-03.indd - The Rappahannock Record

continued from page 36schoolhouse stands at HarmonyVillage.A meat house and a smokehouse are two differentoutbuildings. A meat housewas used primarily for storingand curing meats without theuse of smoke. The appearancebetween a smokehouse andmeat house are often similar,but the smell of a smokehousestays with the building,whether used a centurybefore or last week. Smokedhams and middling cured in asmokehouse with hickory orapplewood left a wonderfulodor for many generations toenjoy.Meat houses usually havebuilt-in tables along theinside walls of the house forhams to be cured and stored.There also were crocks filledwith salt fish with lids coveredin cheese cloth to keepthe flies away. Canned meatsalso were stored in meathouses.Throughout the region,there are buildings thathoused doctor offices in thedays when offices were nextto a doctor’s home.A tide mill in MathewsCounty is still standing as areminder of the days whencorn and wheat were groundat the local mill. Essex Countystill has one gristmill standingand the foundation of severalothers.Car windows are often anavenue for seeing the landscapeand providing an understandingthat even though everyday lifehas changed, many people continueto maintain old, outdatedbuildings—primarily out of arespect for the past.This brick dairy building atWalboro in Saluda was usedto keep milk cool, separatecream and to make butter.Into the 1960s, grocery storesin Urbanna and elsewheresold “real” butter made fromdairies similar to this one.This one-room antebellumschool house still standsat Harmony Village and ismaintained by its owner.This iron barn door hinge is asignature of days gone-by whena local smithy hand-crafted mostanything made of metal at the localblacksmith shop or right on the farm.Barns with large hay loftswere standard.This circular icehouse in Gloucester Countywas used to store ice for a large household.Usually there was a large icehouse like theone above on a property and a smaller kitchenicehouse near the home for convenience.Meat and smoke houseswere built for the curingand storage of meat andevery farmer had one.38 • windows on the Bay •