The Stone Arabia Smokehouse

This is the smallest of our restored buildings. While dismantling a barn in the Mohawk River valley of New York state, we noticed in front of the barn a small outbuilding that we assumed was of recent origin. But when we opened the door, all we could see were blackened timbers—the telltale sign of a smokehouse. Before the advent of canning and refrigeration, such smokehouses were a fixture on every homestead in rural America, when smoking of meat was the only way of preserving it for any length of time. A visit to a homestead in the fall months would not be complete without the familiar smell of hickory smoke curling out of the smokehouse eaves.

There are two basic ways of smoking: hot or cold. Hot smoking keeps the smokehouse at a steady, hot temperature, while cold smoking does not cook the meat but flavors and preserves it. The firebox is located outside the smokehouse. The typical woods used were hickory and oak.