Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 2 1/2 story three-bay eave-entry barn with a gable-roof addition on its south-eastern corner. The western gable-façade of the barn faces Roast Meat Hill Road while the ridge-line of the barn runs east-west. The main façade of the barn is the southern three-bay eave-façade with the main entrance in the middle bay through a pair of double-height exterior-hung sliding wagon doors flanked in between two six-pane stable windows. The eastern corner of the façade has a gable-roof addition which has two over-head garage doors with chamfered corners on its southern eave-façade. The western gable-façade of the barn has an entrance towards the south with the door leaf not in place. Two ten-pane stable windows can be seen towards the north of the entrance while the façade has a two-pane window towards the south of the entrance. The gable attic is separated from the rest of the façade by a distinct dropped girt siding divide line finished in saw teeth detail.  A six-pane window with trim at the sill-level can be seen on the façade just below the apex of the roof. The northern three-bay eave-façade of the barn is blank apart from a hinged pass-through door towards the west that opens into a fenced paddock.
The wooden frame of the barn has vertical siding walls and metal sheet roofing. The wooden frame of the gable-roof addition on the south-eastern corner of the barn has red painted vertical siding and asphalt shingles roofing.

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.

Sheep farming was at first undertaken for the meat and wool to be used domestically. Following the English tradition, it was recognized that sheep needed abundant fresh air and easy access to pastures. But the New England climate could cause problems requiring shelter. For larger flocks, farmers tried simple open structures or small hay barns flanked by open sheds. During the early 1800s raising merino sheep for wool became a lucrative activity and a more specialized type of sheep shed was built, still with open doors for the sheep to go in and out. Sheep farming collapsed in the late 1830s, but revived during the Civil War as demand developed for wool to replace cotton and meet military needs. The sheep barn form evolved, with an open shed on the ground floor and a hayloft above.

Field Notes

There are still sheep in the barn, which may also be used for making maple syrup

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• sheep

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Other

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The property is located towards the east of Roast Meat Hill Road surrounded by dense woodland. Parcels of farmland can be seen towards the east and south of the property.

The barn is towards the western edge of the property accessed by a short driveway. The main residence can be seen towards the south of the barn. The barn has two fenced paddocks- one towards the north and the other towards the east. The paddock towards the east is larger and has a gable-roof outbuilding towards the west. The eastern and southern edge of the paddock is flanked by a L-shaped farmland. The barn precincts also include two water bodies towards further south and south-east of the main residence.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle
• Metal

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

07/30/2010

Compiled By

T. Levine and M. Patnaik, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes provided by –
Jan O’Sullivan, danjan85@aol.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.