Farms in hilly terrain often had a Spring House, a small shack over a fast moving stream, preferably on the north slope of a hill. Items were placed in bags and hung down in cool water. Temperatures in most spring houses were as cool as modern refrigerators. Dairy farms would often built bigger Spring Houses to cool the milk that they produced.
Root cellars were a cool dry place to store vegetables, but they were not as cool as a spring house and not suitable for perishable commodities.