Collins Potato House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Collins Potato House
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 Location in Delaware
Location in the United States
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| Location | Junction of Roads 509 and 510A, near Laurel, Delaware |
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| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| MPS | Sweet Potato Houses of Sussex County MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 90001692 |
| Added to NRHP | November 15, 1990 |
The Collins Potato House is a special old building located near Laurel, Delaware. It's one of the very few buildings like it that are still around today. From around 1900, farmers in southern Delaware grew a lot of sweet potatoes. This was a big business for them!
To keep all those potatoes fresh, farmers needed special places to store them. That's why they built buildings called potato houses. The Collins Potato House was one of the first potato houses built in its area, called Little Creek Hundred. It was built a long time ago, in the late 1800s.
What is a Potato House?
Potato houses were important buildings for farmers. They helped keep sweet potatoes safe and fresh after they were harvested. This was especially important in places like southern Delaware, where sweet potatoes were a major crop.
How it was Built
The Collins Potato House is about 19 feet wide and 30 feet long. It has two floors and is built with a special method called 'balloon-frame.' This means the wooden frame goes all the way from the bottom to the top.
Inside, there's a walkway down the middle. On both sides of the walkway, on each floor, there are storage bins. There are five bins on each side, making ten bins per floor! A staircase inside helps people get to the upper floor.
To keep the potatoes from freezing in winter, the building had a coal stove to keep it warm. The walls are built in three layers. These layers include inside planks, sheathing, and outside weatherboard siding. This design helped to insulate the building.
Doors and Windows
On the front of the building, which faces west, there are doors on both the first and second floors. The back of the building has a door on the first floor and a window on the second floor. Small windows are also found in the pointed parts of the roof, called gables. These windows helped with air flow inside the building.
A Historic Landmark
The Collins Potato House is a very important building. It shows us how farming was done in the past. Because of its history, the Collins Potato House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1990. Being on this list means it's recognized as a special place that should be protected.
