Root Cellars

These photos were originally published in the March 2010 edition of "Mercer's Magazine" in an article by Lois Mateus.

The top photo is the only known remaining functional cellar in Harrodsburg, standing in Anna Armstrong's backyard on Lexington Street. Restored in 2004, the cellar has a depression in the floor which would have been filled with water to keep containers of liquid cold


The photo above is a new root cellar built by Tim Peters on Tallgrass Farm in Mercer County.


This deep pit, on the Wilson family farm on Central Pike, is an ice pit used by early settlers to hold ice and snow. Winter's aged ice was a precious commodity for pioneers and was used to heal and starve fevers and save lives as well as to preserve food and cool drinks.