Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story gable-entry three-aisle tobacco shed which appears to be eighteen-bent. The west gable-side of the shed faces Rye Street while the ridge line runs north-south, almost parallel to the road. The main façade of the shed is its 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 and has a side-pivot awning window just below the apex of the roof. The west eave-side of the shed facing Rye Street has equally spaced entrances through two pairs of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware. The shed is ventilated through the 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 several 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

Long tobacco shed in large open field.

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

1

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

n/a

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The 97.01 acres property, Map Number - 35 49 030, is located towards the east of Rye Street in a pre-dominantly residential area of rural character. Residential plots can be seen towards the south and the west, across Rye Street while parcels of farm land can be seen towards the north across Dempsey Road. Dense woodland covers the area towards the east of the property.

The tobacco shed is almost at the center of the property with open land towards its west and dense woodland towards its east. The ridge line of the shed runs north-south, almost parallel to Rye Street. The circa 1985 ranch main residence is located in the north-eastern corner of the plot, accessed by a driveway from the west. The western edge of the property along Rye Street is demarcated by a row of trees with parcels of open land covering the area towards the west. Dense woodland can be seen towards the east of the tobacco shed and beyond.

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

n/a

Date Compiled

11/24/2010

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 November 24th, 2010 from website http://www.equalitycama.com/ 

GIS information retrieved on November 24th, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org/gissearch/

Photograph/Information retrieved on November 24th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on November 24th, 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.