Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story, tripartite eave-entry barn. The main facade faces southeast and the ridge-line of the barn is perpendicular to this portion of Ridge-field Road, which runs northwest-southeast. The main entry is a pair of double-height swinging hinged door in the middle of three bays in the southeast eave-facade of the barn. The east bay towards the east corner has a pass-through door with trim and wrought iron hardware. Between the main entry and the pass-through door is a wood sign with “COLD SPRING FARM” in green letters. The south bay is blank. The mortared field-stone foundation is exposed on all four sides of the barn. Just above the foundation is a baseboard circumventing the entire structure except at the middle bay entries. The southwest gable-end of the barn has a set of two six-pane windows with trim towards the west corner and a single six-pane window with trim towards the south corner. In the gable attic is a single six-pane window with trim. A dropped girt line siding divide is accented with a horizontal board. The northwest eave-side of the barn has a pair of swinging hinged doors with wrought iron hardware in the middle of three bays. The west bay has a centered six-pane windows with trim. The north bay is blank. The northeast gable-end of the barn has a six-pane window towards the east corner. Beneath the apex of the roof is a window. The dropped girt line siding divide is devoid of any accented horizontal board. The barn has un-painted board-and-batten siding. The roof is covered with wood shingles. The foundation is mortared field-stone.

Historical significance:

The oldest barns still found in the state are called the “English Barn,” “side-entry barn,” “eave entry,” or a 30 x 40. They are simple buildings with rectangular plan, pitched gable roof, and a door or doors located on one or both of the eave sides of the building based on the grain warehouses of the English colonists’ homeland. The name “30 by 40” originates from its size (in feet), which was large enough for 1 family and could service about 100 acres. The multi-purpose use of the English barn is reflected by the building’s construction in three distinct bays - one for each use. The middle bay was used for threshing, which is separating the seed from the stalk in wheat and oat by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage.

Field Notes

2009 Barns Grant pre-application. Zalmon Morgan House built c. 1750 Acquired by Morgan 1796, seven children, enlarged house and built barn, will dated 1847 listed house, barn, outbuildings, cows, horse and colt, two oxen, 47 chickens, and swine. Morgans lived here until 1874.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Garage
• Garden
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is besides and to the northwest of the c. 1750 house with which it is associated. The ridge-line of the house is perpendicular to the ridge-line of the barn. The 2.01 acre site is mostly demarcated by stone walls. To the southeast of the house is a stone walled garden. To the northwest of the house is a driveway with a garage towards the north. The barn is to the north of the garage. To the east of the house is a large yard. The area surrounding the site is light residential and woodland.

MBLU : 106/ / 3/ /

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Board & Batten
• Fieldstone

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Wood Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

FGR1 Garage 480 S.F. BRN3 Barn 1 St w Lf 816 S.F. SHD1 Shed 252 S.F.

Date Compiled

12/16/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs by Richard Bondy.

Field notes by Charlotte Hitchcock.

Map of Wilton, CT, retrieved on December 16, 2010 from website www.bing.com.

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.

Vision Appraisal Online Database. www.visionappraisal.com/wiltonct.

“Eighteenth Century Dwellings in Wilton,” Wilton Historical Society Becentennial publication 1976.