Should you find yourself passing through Northern California… say around Eureka, there’s a wonderful place that you won’t want to miss. The Samoa Cookhouse is a little known gem that is not only a really cool and interesting museum offering a look back at the history of the local logging industry, but is also serving up the best good ol’ home cookin’ you’ve probably had in ages. The Samoa Cookhouse holds a lot of history. Way back in 1900, every large or small logging or mill operation in the redwood country had a cookhouse. The cookhouse was the hub of life in the temporary community if it was in the woods. If it was located in a substantial settlement, it served as a “community center”. If the cookhouse was set up to serve fifteen or twenty men in a shingle bolt camp, often a woman and her husband, with a helper or two called bullcooks, flunkeys or cookees, handled the cooking and serving. If the boarders numbered in the hundreds, a staff of dozens of men and women carried the demands of the task. “Come and get it!” was a familiar cry heard by millmen and brawney-armed longshoremen at the Hammond Lumber Company cookhouse, now known as the Samoa Cookhouse. When the “quitting” whistles blew, the men were more than ready to sit down to a big meal. Lumbermen worked six days a week, twelve hours a day. They were served three hot meals everyday except for on Sunday evenings when a “cold plate” made up of leftovers and cold cuts was served. In 1906, the men spent a small fraction of their one-dollar a day earnings for meals. By 1922, in the days after World War I, they earned more and could pay more. So, 60 cents a day covered three generous meals. When the big doors of the Samoa Cookhouse were thrown open, there was no waiting. Each man sat down, took up his silverware, dished up his food and ate all that he wanted. He could tell what day of the week it was by the menu. The tables were set “family style” with heaping bowls and platters of food. The men ate heartily until the food was gone. As the plates lowered, the waitresses were kept busy rushing to the kitchen and bringing back refills. A good cookhouse never sent a man away saying “I could have eaten more”. The main part of the menu was meat, with potatoes and gravy, and plenty of vegetables. Today, it is much the same. Meals are served family-style at long tables covered with red-checkered tablecloths. The price of your meal includes soup, salad, fresh bread, the main course, and dessert which is most often pie. The lunch and dinner menu feature a daily dish, usually roast beef, fried or barbecued chicken, ham, or pork chops as well as potatoes and vegetables. Breakfast typically includes eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and unlimited orange juice and coffee, and seconds are always available. No one leaves the Cookhouse hungry. While the menu is more hearty home cooking than health food, it is definitely great food. The museum is on the small side, but is free, and is really quite interesting and fun to peruse. Places like this are few and far between these days, and I hope if you’re passing through, you’ll take the time to enjoy this bit of history and chow down on some good eats. Have you been to the Samoa Cookhouse? What did you think of your visit there? Share your stories or photos with us here, or on our Facebook page!