Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story gable-entry tobacco shed. The ridge-line of the shed runs roughly southeast-northwest and is parallel with Rockville Road. The shed has thirteen bents and three aisles. The shed has the standard tobacco shed arrangement; one or two pairs of hinged swinging doors (one in this case) in the gable-facades and a ventilation system in the eave-facades. The ventilation system for the tobacco sheds is vertical siding 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 roof of the shed has asphalt shingles and ridge vents.

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.

Tobacco shed ventilation is accomplished using one of four different systems (more than one method may be utilized in a single shed):

a) Vertical 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 many boards at once, and metal prop hooks to hold the boards in place;

b) Vertical siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors;

c) Less commonly, horizontal siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the top edge and open like long narrow awnings;

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.

Field Notes

Very long tobacco shed at rear of field

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

n/a

Environment features

• Open Land
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

This shed sits alone behind 55 Rockville Road and is listed on both the Capitol Region Council of Governments GIS website and the Town of Windsor’s official website as simply ‘ROCKVILLE’. The websites have the site as 39 acres with two sheds, although only one shed is visible and 39 acres is questionable. To the northeast of the shed is Windsorville pond. In front of the shed to the southwest is a large yard. The area surrounding the site is residential, active agriculture, open space and woodland, with a body of water.

FRAME BARN 1940 5120
FRAME BARN 1940 5120

m/b/p = 41 68 010

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

5120 sf

Date Compiled

08/27/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs by John Harmon.

Map of East Windsor, CT, retrieved on August 27, 2010 from website 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, 213 pages.

The Capitol Region Council of Governments website. http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

eQuality Valuation Services, LLC Database. http://www.eastwindsor-ct.gov/Public_Documents/EWindsorCT_Assessor/index.