Spring House

Spring House with chicken feeder on right side

NPS Photo, Kutner

Built in circa 1806-1807 on the site of an earlier spring house, the building's original rooms were the spring, or water room and a cooling room. IT was open 24 hours a day and provided drinking water. The temperature of the water remains at 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

The middle cooling room was used to store milk, dairy products, meats, fruits and vegetables in crocks, half submerged in the flowing spring water.The cooling room was locked, and access was limited to the Ironmaster's Mansion. The room with the large hearth was the "Lard Kitchen," a later addition, built before 1830. The large hearth was used for laundry, soap making, lard rendering and making apple butter. About 1850, a hydraulic ram was installed to pumped water to the Mansion through wooden pipes.