Hominy Block
A hominy block is a kind of wooden mortar and pestle used to crack corn. The process created a coarse meal for making simple cornbread such as Johnny cakes. The block was made from a section of tree trunk with one end hollowed out. The corn was placed in the resulting “bowl.” The “pestle” was a heavy piece of wood attached by a length of leather or rope to a long tree limb. The other end of the limb was anchored in the ground or in a frame. The whole limb acted as a spring to help the person using it pound the corn with the force needed to break it into meal.
Benjamin Van Cleve praised the hominy block at Fort Harrod in his 1791 description of the fort:
“The hominy block is one of the best that I have seen anywhere. It stands not far from the row of buildings on the southwest side, and is of sycamore. It is of a good size and has been used so much and scraped so often that it is a perfect bowl. It is kept covered from the weather by a deer skin and some pieces of puncheon.”
Hominy Block Photos
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