Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

Shed-II: This is a 1 ½ - story two-aisle tobacco shed. The south gable-side of the shed faces Thrall Road with its ridge line running north-south perpendicular to the road. The main façade of the tobacco shed is the south gable-side with two main entrances through two pairs of hinged wagon doors. The tobacco shed is ventilated through 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.
The wooden frame of the shed is supported on concrete footings and has asphalt shingle roofing.

A 1 ½ - story eave-entry garage is located towards the south-west of Shed-II. The south gable-side of the garage faces Thrall Road while its main façade is the east eave-façade facing the main residence.

A small 1 – story gable-roof shed can be seen towards the east of the garage with its south gable-side facing Thrall Road. The main façade of the shed is its main west eave-façade with the main entrance at the center through a hinged pass-through door and a window towards the southern edge. The wooden frame of the shed has gray painted horizontal siding with white trim and corner boards. The shed 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

New England barn behind spruce tree. Third barn on property.

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Garage
• Shed

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The 40.40 acres property, Map Number - 37 60 015, is towards the north Thrall Road, located near the intersection of Thrall Road and Middle Road. It is situated in a pre-dominantly residential area of rural character flanked by residential plots towards its north and south. Parcels of farm land with active agriculture can be seen towards the south of the property across Thrall Road while dense woodland covers the area towards the north.
The western edge of the property is defined by cluster of trees while parcels of farm land with active agriculture can cover the area towards the north and the east. A patch of dense woodland can be seen in the south-eastern corner of the property with the building complex including the barns, the outbuildings and the main residence located in the south-western corner, abutting to Thrall Road. The circa 1890 colonial main residence is towards the south-east corner of the building complex with the 1 ½ -story gable-roof three-aisle tobacco shed, Shed-I towards its north. A 1 ½ - storey gable-entry barn, Barn-I can be seen towards the north-west of Shed-I with a small salt-box roof shed located immediately towards the south-east of Barn-I. The property includes another 1 ½- story gable-entry tobacco shed, Shed-II towards the south-west of Barn-I while a 1 ½-story eave-entry garage is located towards further south, nearer to Thrall Road. A small gable-roof outbuilding can be seen towards the east of Barn-II. The ridge lines of the main residence and Shed-I run east-west, parallel to Thrall Road while that of Barn-I, Shed-II, the garage and the two out buildings run perpendicular along north-south.

Building Typology

• Other Shed
• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Concrete
• Horizontal Siding
• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

Barn: 4200 SqFt, Circa 1900 Shed: 384 SqFt, Circa 1900 Barn: 1932 SqFt, Circa 1900 Barn: 1920 SqFt, Circa 1900 Garage: 1600 SqFt, Circa 1940

Date Compiled

12/03/2010

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs and field-notes provided by – John E. Harmon

Assessors’ records retrieved on December 3rd, 2010 from website http://www.equalitycama.com/ 

GIS information retrieved on December 3rd, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

Photograph/Information retrieved on December 3rd, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on December 3rd, 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.