Root cellar

"The root cellar does not appear to be connected with any particular ethnic group. Root cellars were constructed and used from the 18th century into the refrigeration era. The root cellar should be interpreted as a critical element in farm subsistence strategies, particularly over the long winter in the days when all eating was seasonal."

"When the first English and Irish settlers came to what is now the island of Newfoundland in the 1600s, they quickly realized they’d need to find a way to store vegetables over the winter. There were many different designs of root cellars. Some were dug into hills and some were built out of mounded earth. Some went straight down; this kind often had a shed over top with a door in the floor. The cellar walls were made of stone, wood or later of concrete. Builders often divided the cellars into sections or bins with wood, which they also used for the roof. Although some root cellars were pretty small, others could be as big as a good-sized modern living room."