By Cathy Callopy
As you walk from the Roseberry House toward the main house you will pass several buildings. The first is the smokehouse. We know that this was moved from somewhere else and placed here at a later date. Originally it would have been near the hog-slaughtering shed (or what some farmers would have called the “piggery”). The smokehouse was an indispensable farm building because smoking meat was the primary means of preserving it. Julia Dinsmore kept a salt-vinegar recipe written by her great-uncle, Silas Dinsmoor. The men on the property, tenants, day laborers, and enslaved men, would kill the hogs in November or December, soak the meat in very large tubs for about six weeks and then hang the meat in the smokehouse with a low fire for several weeks. The cook would then slice meat off the hanging slabs when preparing meals.