Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story, three-aisle, twelve bent tobacco shed. The ridge-line of the shed runs roughly east-west while the potion of South Main Street (US Rte 5) it is located on runs approximately northwest-southeast. The main facade of the shed is its west gable-end, with its main entry at the center through a pair of hinged wagon doors with blacksmithed hardware. The sheds are ventilated through the vertical siding on the eave-sides where every second board is hinged at the top and tilted out at the bottom by means of a horizontal cleat, that lifts many boards at once, and metal prop hooks to hold the boards in place. The shed has vertical siding painted on its south eave-side with faded advertising. The roof appears to be covered/once was covered in rolled asphalt.

Historical significance:

The tobacco barn, or shed as it is called in the Connecticut River Valley, is one of the most distinctive of the single-crop barns. They tend to be long, low windowless buildings with pitched roofs. They are characterized by vented sides to regulate air flow and allow harvested tobacco to cure at the appropriate rate.  Derived initially from the design of the English barn, the shed is composed of a fixed skeleton consisting of two- or three-aisle bents repeated at intervals of 15 feet to the desired length. The wood-framed bents sit on piers of stone or concrete and the bents are connected by girts and diagonal braces. Typically there are two doors at each end, making the shed a “drive-through,” although some sheds are accessed through doors on the sides. The interior structural framework serves a second purpose in addition to supporting the walls and roof of the building; it provides a framework for the rails used to hang the tobacco as it cures.

This is accomplished with one of four different systems (more than one method may be utilized in a single shed):

a) Vertical slats - siding in which every second board is hinged at the top and tilted out at the bottom by means of a horizontal cleat, that lifts several boards at once, and metal prop hooks to hold the boards in place;

b) Side slats - Vertical siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors, each held in place by its own hook;

c) Less commonly, horizontal siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the top edge and open like long narrow awnings; this system may be employed along the lower edge of the wall in conjunction with vertical or side slats;

d) A series of large doors along one of the long sides of the building with the other sides of the building vented by one or more of the other methods.

e) The tobacco sheds can have additional ventilation through side-pivot awning vents on the gable-ends, which co-exist with one or more of the above four systems of ventilation.

Field Notes

n/a

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Shed
• Shop

Environment features

• Commercial
• Industrial
• Open Land
• Residential
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The tobacco shed is behind and to the east of the c. 1948 house it is associated with. The ridge-line of the house is parallel to this portion of South Main Street (US Rte 5). A tract of open space separates the house from the shed to the west. Centered between the two is a small shed. To the northwest of the house is a small office building. The lot is demarcated to the north by a mobile home site. To the south of the tobacco shed is a large tract of open space. To the east of the tobacco shed is woodland. To the south of the site is a huge parking lot. The area surrounding the site is scattered residential, commercial, industrial, open space and woodland.

Map/block/parcel # 38 23 059

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Rolled

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

11/30/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs provided by Todd Levine, taken 01/23/2008.

GIS information retrieved on November 30th, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

Photograph/Information retrieved on November 30th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on November 24th, 2010 from website http://www.zillow.com

eQuality Valuation Services, LLC Database. http://www.equalitycama.com/tvweb/MainSearch.aspx?city=eastwindsor

O’Gorman, James F., Connecticut Valley Vernacular: the Vanishing Landscape and Architecture of the New England Tobacco Fields, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, 144 pages.

Sexton, James, PhD; Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history

Visser, Thomas D.,Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.