Root Cellar
Oxon Hill Farm - Oxon Cove Park
This root cellar may not look much like a refrigerator. But in the 1830s, it was probably the closest thing the DeButts family had.
A good root cellar is damp, well ventilated, and very cool but never freezing. Like this one, most root cellars are built partly or entirely under ground to keep them cool. You can see the ventilation chimneys on the north and south sides.
Roots cellars get their names from their contents – they are used mainly to store root crops such as beets, carrots, potatoes, and turnips. Root crops had many advantages for farmers such as the DeButts family. Some are ready to eat early in spring; others can wait for harvesting after the first frost. And they are edible before they fully mature, so if you need a carrot you can dig up a young one. Corn and wheat don’t work that way.
Properly stored, some root crops last for months without spoiling. Many other vegetables, such as squash, cabbages, onions, and melons will also keep better in the root cellar. This building let the DeButts family store vegetables well into the winter.
[Renderings of] "Some fruit and vegetables often stored in a root cellar."
Squash photograph courtesy of Visual Language Library: Antique Botanical Illustrations: 1640-1900. Fruit and vegetable photographs courtesy of Complete Produce Library by Brand X Pictures.
Marker is on Oxon Hill Farm Hiker Trail west of Bald Eagle Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
