Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 1 ½ story gable-entry eleven-bent two-aisle tobacco shed with its west gable-façade facing the intersection of Fletcher Road and broad Brook Road. The shed is towards the north of Fletcher Road and the east of Broad Brook Road. The south eave-façade of the tobacco shed faces Fletcher Road with its ridge line running east-west parallel to the road. The main façade of the barn is the west gable-façade with two main entrances through two pairs of hinged wagon doors leading to the two aisles of the shed. A board displaying the number ‘35’ can be seen centered on the façade above the two wagon doors. The gable attic above is separated from the rest of the façade by a distinct girt siding divide line and has a hinged hay door just below the apex of the roof. The tobacco shed is ventilated through the vertical siding on the eave-facades 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. 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 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

See also 149 Town Farm Road and 1 Fletcher Road, for additional sheds in the same complex. Kogut Florist and Nurseryman, Inc. / Koguts Hemlock Hill Tree Farm, Inc., Meriden CT

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

The 3.9 acres property is a corner plot towards the north of Fletcher Road and east of Broad Brook Road. It is situated in a pre-dominantly residential area of rural character. The property is flanked by other residential properties towards the east while parcel of open farmland can be seen towards the north. A series of tobacco barns can be seen towards the south of the property across Fletcher Road. Open farm land and a free standing tobacco shed can also be seen towards the west of the property, across Broad Brook Road.

The barn is located in the western acute corner of the property which is separated by a transverse connection between Fletcher Road and Broad brook Road. The main farm house is located towards the east of the property with some sheds and out buildings scattered towards its north. Parcels of farm land can be seen towards the western most edge of the property.

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

08/21/2010

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 August 21st, 2010 from website http://www.enfield-ct.gov/

Aerial photograph/Information retrieved on August 20th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Information retrieved on August 20th, 2010 from website http://www.Zillow.com, http://www.bing.com/maps, annotation by C. Hitchcock 10/25/2010.

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.