Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 1 ½ - story three-aisle thirteen-bent tobacco shed with its west gable-side facing East Road. The ridge line of the shed runs east-west, almost parallel to Middle Road. The main façade of the tobacco shed is the west gable-façade with the main entrance at the center through a pair of hinged wagon doors. The gable attic above is separated from the rest of the façade by a distinct girt siding divide line and has a side-pivot awning window just below the apex of the roof. The tobacco shed is 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 wooden frame of the tobacco shed is supported on concrete footings and has asphalt shingle roofing.

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

This is a tobacco shed way off the road. 36 Clark Roadd is closest address. Possibly in Ellington.

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• tobacco

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural

Relationship to surroundings

The 24.89 acres property is a corner plot towards the north of Middle Road and the east of East Road, bordering the town line of East Windsor and Ellington. It is situated in a pre-dominantly residential area of rural character, surrounded by farm land. Parcels of farm land with active agriculture can be seen towards the east and the north of the property and towards the west and the south, across East Road and Middle Road. A few residential plots can be seen towards the southeast of the property. The property engulfs the residential plot at 73 Middle Road on three sides.

The tobacco shed is situated towards the southern edge of the property, surrounded by farm land towards the east, north and the west. The main residence and the associated barns of plot number 73 Middle Road can be seen immediately towards the south of the tobacco shed.

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

11/05/2010

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs and field-notes provided by – John Harmon

Assessors’ records retrieved on November 5th, 2010 from website http://www.equalitycama.com/ 

GIS information retrieved on November 5th, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

Photograph/Information retrieved on November 5th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on November 5th, 2010 from website http://www.zillow.com

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.