Ranger’s Smokehouse

As we’ve expressed before, we take great joy in visiting sections of the reservation that we haven’t been to before. There aren’t many of those areas left, but finding something new is always great.

In visiting with new Justin Duke, we took a few minutes to do a quick walkabout the Ranger’s residence. About fifty yards from the house, down the woods, is a smokehouse. It’s quite old and still in good shape.

Honestly, we don’t know how old this building is. But it seems reasonable to assume that it dates back to the period when Boxwell was a working farm. Hogs were part of farm life then and Council Executive Ward Akers often gave large sides of meat to contributors. It seems quite likely this building was used for those purposes as well as personal use. Just another fascinating piece of Boxwell history.

Cedar smokehouse behind the Ranger’s residence, 2026