For our ancestors, summer made fresh pork difficult to enjoy because a pig had to be slaughtered, cooked, and eaten quickly before it spoiled. Meat for year-round use had to be cured by salting and smoking, so a frosty December day was the ideal time for butchering and beginning the curing process, an important milestone in the annual farming cycle overseen by the mistress of the house. Freshly slaughtered cuts were packed tightly into tubs layered with plenty of salt to draw moisture from the meat, and by February the meat was ready for the smokehouse fire. Smokehouses were square and built with a central fire pit, tight construction, sturdy doors with strong locks, and no windows to contain heat and smoke and to keep out thieves and vermin. Steep roofs and heavy beams allowed many hams to be hung and smoked at once, and the cured meat remained in the smoke house until needed, protected from insects by a coating of pepper or hickory ashes. Early records, including the Mutual Assurance Policies relating to Belmont, sometimes used the term meathouse for this kind of storage building. Creosote buildup from years of smoke and nails for hanging meat can still be seen in this smokehouse. It and the neighboring kitchen, both built circa 1800, were moved to this spot around 1843 when owner Joseph Ficklen married and expanded the main house. When the Melcherses bought Belmont in 1916, the structure had become a chicken coop, with a plank ceiling and wire to protect chickens from predators, a window for ventilation, a small hatch for daytime access outside, and lime-based whitewash applied several times annually to kill insect eggs and keep the area fresh. The butcher block is original to the Melcherses.