In the 19th century, farms commonly included outbuildings such as a smokehouse, an outhouse, and a kitchen. The smokehouse was a small building, generally separated from other buildings to keep smoke away from the main house and reduce the risk of fire, where meats could be smoked and stored. Smoking cured, cooked, or seasoned food by exposing it for long periods to smoke from a wooden fire, which slowed bacteria and killed insects that fed on meats and fish, and hickory, oak, pecan, and other native woods were commonly used. Originally, the term outhouse referred to a small structure away from the main building, but today it refers to a small enclosure around a pit used as a toilet or privy; the privy was placed close enough to the main house for easy access, but far enough away to minimize odor and at a proper distance from wells or fresh water sources. On Southern estates in the 19th century, the kitchen was often set a short distance from the main house with a vegetable, herb, and spice garden nearby. Most kitchens contained an open-hearth fireplace, and fear of kitchen fires was one reason to keep the building separate. Because food could cool quickly, the kitchen was often connected by a walkway leading directly into the main dining room, and Tennessee’s warm climate made operating a kitchen unpleasant, so a separate food-preparation building helped keep the main house cooler in hotter months.