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Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar Muncipal Heritage Structure

Elliston, Newfoundland and Labrador, A0C, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2007/04/10

Front photo view of Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar (at bottom) and Jim Goodland Upstairs Root Cellar (above), known together as the Upstairs-Downstairs Cellars, Maberly, NL; Tourism Elliston Inc., 2007
Upstairs-Downstairs Root Cellar, Maberly, NL
Front photo view of Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar (at bottom) and Jim Goodland Upstairs Root Cellar (above), known together as the Upstairs-Downstairs Cellars, Maberly, NL; Tourism Elliston Inc., 2007
Upstairs-Downstairs Root Cellar, Maberly, NL
Front photo view of Dan Goodland-Downstairs Root Cellar, Maberly, Elliston, NL, 2006/06/15; L Maynard, HFNL, 2007
Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar, 2006

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1915/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2007/06/04

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar is located at Cow Calf Hill, across from Bird Island Sanctuary in the Maberly area of the municipality of Elliston. It is built into the hillside and is the lower of a pair of cellars known as the Twin Cellars or the Upstairs-Downstairs Cellars. The municipal heritage designation is confined to the footprint of the structure.

Heritage Value

The Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar has historic, architectural, aesthetic and cultural values.

The Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar was built in 1915 and has historic value given its age and because it survives from a time before modern day refrigeration was the norm in rural Newfoundland. Such structures were heavily relied on for storing and preserving foodstuffs.

The Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar has architectural value as a good example of utilitarian design and functionality. Root cellars such as this were common in rural locations to store vegetables and other food items. They were built to moderate temperature and humidity. The Dan Goodland Root Cellar is of the type that is built into the side of a hill, the most prevalent kind in the Maberly area. It has a wooden front door of vertical board, surrounded by exposed stone construction. It is otherwise surrounded by the natural hill and covered in sod.

The Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar has aesthetic significance in the cultural landscape of Elliston. It is one structure in a larger, community-wide collection of root cellars that makes the community’s landscape remarkable. Together with the Jim Goodland Upstairs Root Cellar built by Dan’s brother, it is part of the distinctive formation known as the Twin Cellars or the Upstairs-Downstairs Cellars.

Still in use, the Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar also has cultural value in Elliston. Root cellars have a connection to a subsistence economy where people farmed, hunted, fished and gathered the raw ingredients for much of their family’s own food. Once so commonplace, root cellars have become symbolic of the history of subsistence in rural Newfoundland and particularly of the Town of Elliston, which declared itself Root Cellar Capital of the World in 2000.

Source: Town of Elliston Town Council Meeting Minutes of 2007/04/10

Character-Defining Elements

All those exterior elements related to the age, architectural and aesthetic values of the cellar:

-exposed stonework on front;
-type, size, material and placement of door;
-dimensions;
-the general rugged appearance, with sods;
-hillside location;
-built-in hill construction;
-and proximity to the Jim Goodland-Upstairs Root Cellar.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Newfoundland and Labrador

Recognition Authority

NL Municipality

Recognition Statute

Municipalities Act

Recognition Type

Municipal Heritage Building, Structure or Land

Recognition Date

2007/04/10

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Architecture and Design

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Food Supply
Food Storage Facility

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

Dan Goodland

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Town of Elliston, PO Box 115, Elliston, NL, A0C 1N0

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

NL-3051

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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