The Chrisholm cellar was constructed for multiple uses but served primarily to store and preserve food grown on the farm. Unlike any house cellar existing in Butler County today, it had two separate entrances, one through a stairwell from inside the home and a much larger, wider entrance from the outside yard, allowing workers to move large barrels of food or drink without disturbing household activities. The cellar consisted of four rooms with enough windows for work activities, and its most important space, the root cellar, lay four feet lower than the other rooms with a dirt floor and a barrel vault ceiling. A steady year-round temperature of 58 degrees provided optimal conditions for preserving food, wine, and whiskey. Ventilation was considered essential to a healthy household and a productive root cellar, and a shaft along the bottom right side of the back wall improved air circulation through cases and barrels of vegetables. At the time, people believed that vegetables stored together generated heat that released harmful gases, so vegetables were submerged in sand inside crates or barrels. Augspurger inventory records indicate that the cellar stored produce, wine, whiskey, milk, butter, meats, and cheese, and hooks embedded in the vault were used to hang cured meats.