>I am trying to find information on historic period basements/cellars in
>the southeastern US, particularly the Piedmont area of Georgia. I am
>working on a site that has a large basement (approximately 18x 28and
>4-5deep) with stone and brick walls, plaster coating, and a
>fireplace/hearth in a massive granite chimney. There is also a fireplace
>above the basement where the first floor would have been. Granite is
>locally available from active and historic quarries, which explains the
>massive masonry. There are three chimneys total, and the basement off the
>back of the house perpendicular to the main house (ell?).


Because it is finished of with plaster I would say it sounds like what is
called an "English Basement" which is somewhat common in homes of all kinds
across the southeast.  These rooms could have served as a kitchen, but in
all the cases I can think of off hand they were used as a dining room.  If
it were a kitchen then it would probably be seasonal for, as I am sure you
know, you do not want such a source of intense heat under your living
quarters in the south in the summer.  Also, by having the dining room
partially underground makes it cooler and a much more habitable space in
the summer.

In the north, however, you often see kitchens in basements as you wanted
the heart or stove heat to warm the house for more than half the year.  In
those cases a summer kitchen or an ell on the back of the house with a
kitchen might be the norm.  I can't think of any vernacular examples that
would have a detached kitchen as the winter exposure would make it
impossible to get the food to the dining room still warm.

I don't wonder if these spaces didn't serve the dual purpose of dining room
and kitchen when the seasons made it necessary.  My office has an English
Basement which is said to be the dining room (there is none upstairs and
the kitchen is said to have been a separate building out
back).  Considering the snow and cold of late I would have brought the cook
inside for the duration!

         Dan W.