Is there a difference between a cellar and a basement?

Answer 1

Basements usually have walls of cement or whateverthey are built of. ,cellars at one time generally had walls of dirt.They were usually smaller than a basement ,they were used to store fruit (like apples )& veggies (onions, turnips etc. )because it was cooler in there produce kept quite well for a considerable time. The fruit was allowed to dry out & was used for cooking such things of course as pies ,cobblers ,also applesauce etc. A celler like stated above is smaller than a basement and back in the early settlements to the 1950's they were dirt walls, now most are concrete, not all but most. True cellers are not under the house either, they are out in the yard somewhere. You can usually identify them by a mound in the land and it has a door on it(small,tiny) door. Yes, they use these to store there foods that they have prepared from their summer and fall harvest. all of their canning. As for drying out fruit and Veggies they would have had to do that before puttint them into the celler, but they would keep apples, squash, cucumbers celery cabbage and such to keep for the winter. Remember Cellers were bin in the Midwest and the pararie states where it wasREALLY cold.