Root Cellars in America
Their History, Design and Construction 1609-1920
3rd Edition

By James E. Gage

For most people, the term “root cellar” evokes an image of a brick or stone masonry subterranean structure tunneled into a hillside. These classic root cellars are only one of a number of different types of structures used to preserve root crops, vegetables and fruits over the past 400 years. The other structures include subfloor pits, cooling pits, house cellars, barn cellars, field root pits & trenches, and root houses. Root Cellars in America provides a history of all the structures, discusses their design principles, and details how they were constructed. The text is accompanied by period illustrations from the agricultural literature along with archaeological photographs.

Trade Paperback, 6 x 9 inches, 232 pp. 117 Illus. ISBN 978-0-981614-9-9
Price $12.75

Available from www.PowwowRiverBooks.com (Publisher)
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Table of Contents

What is a root cellar?
What are the origins of the root cellar?
Types of Root Cellars
  I. Subfloor Pits
  II. Cooling Pits
  III. Building Cellars
    1. House Cellars
    2. Roofed Cellars & Outbuilding Cellars
    3. Barn Cellars
  IV. Field Root Pits
V. Free-Standing Root Cellars & Root Houses
VI. Stone Roof Root Cellars and Native American Chambers
VII. Historic Examples of Free-Standing Root Cellars
Harvesting, Handling, & Storing
Appendix A - Modern Root Cellar Resources
Appendix B – References By Storage Type
Bibliography