Nelson Pioneer

Summer Kitchen and Meat House

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Built in 1890, this Summer Kitchen was used by the Nelson family to cook meals in the summer and heat wash water year-round. Having a separate building for these tasks helped regulate the temperatures in the home. Water was hauled to the stove from the well (which sat between the back porch of the house and the summer kitchen).

The Meat House sits on the original site of the Nelson wood shed. The brick floor and fireplace were rebuilt to keep with the original structures of the building, but the outer walls were rebuilt by MCHS when they restored the Nelson buildings in 1964.

New roofs were installed on both buildings in 2020 and the chimney on the Summer Kitchen was rebuilt and capped thanks to a grant from the Mahaska County Community Foundation.

A Note to Photographers

Please call our Director at 641-672-2989 or email them director@nelsonpioneer.org to get permission to come take photographs of the property. This is not an open site and permission is necessary so we can let our property caretaker know.