Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a barn complex of two 1 ½ - story tobacco sheds towards the south of Fletcher Road. The north eave-sides of the two tobacco sheds face Fletcher Road while their ridge lines run east-west parallel to the road. The east gable-side of the tobacco shed towards the east, Shed-I, faces the west gable-side of the tobacco shed towards the west, Shed-II. 

Shed-I: This is a 1 ½ - story two-bay seven-bent tobacco shed. The main façade of the tobacco shed is the east gable-façade with two main entrances through two pairs of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware. A distinct girt siding divide line separates the gable attic above which has a side-pivot awning vent just below the apex of the roof. A sign board with the displaying the number ‘nineteen’ can be seen centered on the façade above the two main entrances. 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. Similar arrangement for ventilation can be seen above the main entrances on the main east gable-façade. The wooden frame of the tobacco shed has vertical siding walls and asphalt shingle roofing.

Shed-II: This is a 1 ½ - story two-bay eleven-bent tobacco shed. The main façade of the tobacco shed is the east gable-façade with two main entrances through two pairs of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware. 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 footing. The shed has vertical siding walls and 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

Notes from WW indicate that the barns (2 barns south side, 5 barns north side) is on the corner of Fletcher Road & Charnley Road. Photos by Walt Wojciehowski and Len Warburton. Submitted to CT Trust by Walt Wojciehowski via disk and uploaded by Leah Beckett.

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Other

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The 28.56 acres property, Map 108-0024, is a corner plot in Hazardville Fire District towards the south-east of the intersection of Fletcher Road, Still Lane and Charnley Road . The northern and the western edge of the property is formed by Fletcher Road. Residential plots can be seen towards the north and the west of the property across Fletcher Road. Parcels of farm land and tobacco sheds can be seen towards the north while dense woodland surrounds the property towards the east and the south.

The two tobacco sheds are located in the north-western corner of the property with a water body towards the south and a patch of open land towards its north. The property is covered by dense vegetation towards the east and the south.

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Concrete
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

09/09/2010

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs and field-notes provided by –
Walt Wojciehowski and Len Warburton

Assessors’ records information retrieved on September 9th , 2010 from website http://www.enfield-ct.gov/

Aerial photograph/Information retrieved on September 9th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on September 9th, 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.