Kitchen House & Garden

The kitchen house is built from the same materials as the main house, but its main purpose was food preparation and housing for Lucy, Violet and the other enslaved people working on the property. Inside, a roaring fire would have been kept going day and night, no matter how hot or cold the weather was. This was a working farm, which meant everyone in the household worked, slave and free. The children most likely assisted with the chores related to the kitchen house and garden.

Walk along the side of the house to the fenced in garden area. Feel free to open the gate and go inside, but please do not pick any of the plants. While our kitchen garden may seem large, the Polk’s kitchen garden would have been even larger. They would have grown vegetables and herbs, for their pantry and medicine cabinet. In the back country, there was no local doctor in the area all the time, so most families made do with herbal remedies and tinctures for the aches and pains.  

Next, please exit the garden making sure to shut the gate behind you. Walk over to the picnic benches and locate the Catawba wayfinding sign.