SMOKEHOUSE

Built: ca. 1854
Location: Azle, Tarrant County, Texas
Owners: Reynolds Family
Builder: Reynolds Family

This is a typical log smokehouse. Cuts of meats, sausages and other goods hang inside to illustrate the purpose and importance of smokehouses in nineteenth century Texas. Without refrigeration, smoking meat was a way to preserve it for long periods of time. After hogs were butchered in the winter, the smokehouse was put into service.

The Reynolds Smokehouse was originally located on the grounds of an 1854 farmhouse in Azle, a town located about twenty miles northwest of Fort Worth. John Giles Reynolds built the smokehouse in 1854. The farmhouse and smokehouse remained with the same family for many generations. After the building outlived its use as a smokehouse, Reynolds family children used it as a playhouse. It was donated to Log Cabin Village in 2004 for restoration.