Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This structure was built by the Websters as a machinery shed and bull barn for Arethusa Farm. The dairy, which no longer stands, was located to the east.

A peak-roofed structure standing with its gable ends to the east and west. The west gable end is designed with a slight overhang. An 8-pane window lights the loft and a hinged loft door is centered below it. A pair of 6/6 double-hung windows is centered at the ground floor level. The south façade incorporates three garage bays rising full height to the roof overhang; a fourth, shorter bay is located at the far east. The structure consists of cinder block; the loft joists are wood, and floor is concrete.

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

Materials: Tongue and groove siding, cinder block. Historic use: Machine shop. Present use: Hay/bull barn. Rachel Carley State Historic Resource Inventory record lists this property as Webster Road with no number.

Use (Historic)

• dairy

Use (Present)

• dairy

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

No

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

• Active Agriculture
• Barn
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

This is the easternmost of the structures in the cluster of Arethusa buildings south of Webster Road. A fenced bull pen adjoins to the east. The driveway from the barnyard passes on the south side. The pond is located to the southwest.

Building Typology

• Wagon Shed

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

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Roof type

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Approximate Dimensions

55 x 321 story plus loft

Date Compiled

08/07/2008

Compiled By

Rachel Carley

Sources

Litchfield Tax Assessor Records
Interview with Art Webster 7/07

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.