Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a complex of two tobacco sheds towards the east of Rockville Road with Shed-I towards the north and Shed-II towards the south. The south gable-side of Shed-I faces the north gable-side of Shed-II while their ridge lines run north-south parallel to Rockville Road.

Shed-I: This is a 1 ½-story gable-entry three-aisle fourteen-bent tobacco shed with its west eave-side facing Rockville Road. The main façade of the shed is the south gable-façade with the main entrance at the center through a pair of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware. The gable attic above is separated from the rest of the main façade by a distinct dropped girt siding divide line. The 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 shed has additional roof ventilation through a continuous ridge vent. 
The wooden frame of the tobacco shed is supported on concrete footings and has asphalt shingle roofing.

Shed-II: This is a 1 ½ - story gable-entry three-aisle tobacco shed which appears to be eight-bent. The main façade of the shed is the south gable-façade with the main entrance at the center through a pair of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware. The gable attic above is separated from the rest of the main façade by a distinct dropped girt siding divide line. The 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.

Although some sheds lack roof ventilation, commonly there is either a series of small ventilators at the ridgeline, or a continuous ridge vent formed by raising the roof structure for a width of up to about 24 inches along the ridge. Alternately, rectangular openings in the attic gable-ends may have pivoting shutters.

Field Notes

Tobacco shed

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

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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 39 acres property, Map Number - 41 68 010, is a land with outbuildings located towards the east of Rockville Road in a pre-dominantly residential area of rural character. It has a narrow frontage to the road and spreads out along Windsorville Pond towards the east. Residential plots can be seen towards the north and the south of the property while farm land with active agriculture and tobacco sheds can be seen towards the west across Rockville Road. Dense woodland can be seen towards the south-east of the property.

The two tobacco sheds are located towards the eastern edge of the property with their ridge lines running north-south parallel to Rockville Road. The tobacco shed, Shed-I, is towards the north and the tobacco shed, Shed-II, is towards the south, separated from Shed-I by cluster of trees. Open land can be seen towards the west of Shed-I and Shed-II while dense woodland can be seen towards the south-east of Shed-II. The eastern edge of the property along Windsorville Pond is defined by dense cluster of trees.

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Concrete
• 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

Shed-I: 5120 SqFt, Circa 1940 Shed-II: 5120 SqFt, Circa 1940

Date Compiled

11/23/2010

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 23rd, 2010 from website http://www.equalitycama.com/ 

GIS information retrieved on November 23rd, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

Photograph/Information retrieved on November 23rd, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on November 23rd, 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.