Asa Tift's Smokehouse, circa 1850

Asa Tift's Smokehouse, circa 1850. . Asa Tift constructed the buildings on this estate from 1849 to 1851. This smokehouse is one of the original structures built during this period and was designed to preserve meat and fish for the Tift household and servants. The smokehouse and the main home are made from 18-inch blocks of limestone that were excavated from the estate., Pool Pumphouse , In 1937 when Pauline Hemingway decided to install a pool she found a perfect place to conceal the pool pumping equipment, inside of the old smokehouse. Today it is used for the modern pool pump and filtration systems., Smokehouses , Traditionally, a smokehouse is a small enclosed outbuilding with an air vent, a single entrance, no windows, and secure locks. They often have gabled or pyramid-style roofs to promote circulation of curing smoke. The use of warm, dry air from a slow hardwood fire in a central brick pit or iron oven ensures the proper drying of meats., Smoking was a common food preservation method. Meat and fish would be prepared using salt, sugar, and sometimes spices, and then hung over slow-burning fires that produced curing smoke. The finished products could be safely stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more., Key West's Calusa Indians , The Calusa Indians, indigenous to Key West, also used this method of food preservation, primarily for fish. The Calusas did not farm like other native tribes in Florida; instead, they used fishing nets made from palm tree webbing and spears to catch eels and turtles.