The Samoa Cookhouse in Samoa is an eating experience! It is the last surviving lumber camp cookhouse in the West. They still serve food in the ‘lumber camp style’. There are old photos of the same building, serving the same function, in the early 1900s.
The old relics and pictures hanging on the walls add a lot of atmosphere. Lumber companies were chopping down the most enormous redwoods in the 1900s. There was one photo that had a number of horses lined up on the log and they had plenty of prancing room! No one to stand up and say “Don’t do that” in those days.
The main dining room is filled with long tables and mismatched chairs. Red and white checkered tablecloths add a cozy appearance. Everyone is seated together and the food is served ‘family style’. A little German lady, with rosy cheeks, sat platters of food on the table and we just ‘dug in’. The food keeps coming and coming. Soup, and salad and fresh baked bread, dishes heaped with fried chicken, roast pork and gravy, vegetables, baked potatoes. She sounded like my mama “Let me bring you some more!” I couldn’t even finish my peach pie…groan!