A Mystery Solved!!

I posted about this a while back. We had no idea what it was used for, except a shed, but thought it had to have some other purpose. Well, after talking to the PO's family we solved the mystery. It was a smokehouse! She said they would smoke meat in there...sausage and things like that. This was a fully functioning farm so this isn't really a surprise. In fact I'm surprised we hadn't thought of that. Our house is on a highway and she said that people would stop every once in a while to tell them the building was on fire and they would explain that it was supposed to have smoke coming from it! Also found out the building is made of white poplar.

I also learned that the outhouse was located close to the far end of this building about where the clothesline is at. Just realized you can't see the clothesline because of the big tree in the way...trust me, its there. I've had people tell me that if you can locate and excavate the outhouse or "privy" that you can learn a lot about the the property all the way back to when the hole was fist dug. I'm sorry, but it was in use till the 50's so I don't see us digging it up any time soon. But it is nice to know where it was.

The tool shed

We're not quite sure what this little building is. We call it the tool shed, but it looks like it was previously used as a tool/garden/storage shed by the PO's and before that we don't know.

It was not listed with the house because its not up to code on anything and its kinda falling apart.
First thing...we inherited all this crap with the sale. None of its ours.

This is the main room. Its about 7'x15' . There is a cabinet and a primitive looking wooden counter. There is no insulation and you can see through the walls in some places. But its amazingly sturdy and doen't leak.

The floor looks like morter, which I think is a little odd
This is a close up of the cabinet. You can't tell by the pictures, but it has square nails all over it. Everywhere...not just where they need to be. Like some one had a bunch left over and said "what the heck" and went crazy with the hammer.

This is the (disconected)power. This is in the first room thats about 7'x7'. I think this is knob and tube wiring. The wiring starts outside (currently laying on the ground) and runs the length of the building and ends with an outlet, just above the counter, that looks like the oldest version of a powerstrip that I've ever seen.









Any input on what this shed may have been would be great. I think it may have been something like a summer kitchen that was converted to a workshop. We're going to use it as my "workshop" for little projects (after we run some new wiring), but I'm just really curious about what it really is supposed to be. There are square nails through the whole thing, all the boards are tounge and groove, and I found one peg outside on a corner. I thought it was a knot in the wood, but I chipped away the paint and it is perfectly circular and is right where the framing lines up for the corner. I have never seen anything like that before!