Sweet potato production quadrupled in Sussex County after 1900, a boom that lasted until a root disease struck in the 1940s. Two-story, houselike gabled buildings were used to store sweet potatoes over the winter, with chimneys to vent a stove that gave constant heat. Windows were few, but air circulation was provided by slatted floors and sliding panels. Today, these weatherboarded structures have all been converted for other uses—or, as here, abandoned.