Dan Goodland Downstairs Root Cellar Muncipal Heritage Structure
Elliston, Newfoundland and Labrador, A0C, Canada
Formally Recognized:
2007/04/10
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