Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• National Register
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story three-bay eave-entry barn with a gable roof. The main façade faces north and the ridge-line runs east-west, parallel to Gager Hill Road which lies to the north.  Principal entry is in the center bay of the north eave-side.  From the extant metal overhead track, it appears that a pair of sliding doors formerly opened on the exterior. The left (east) leaf is still in existence and has a small hood above the track hardware. The right (west) leaf has been installed as fixed infill and has a hinged weather door with iron strap hinges close to the center of the opening.

On the east gable-end of the barn are three six-pane stable windows with trim in a group off-center to the left (south). The rightmost is lower than the other two; the leftmost has a screen in the form of an exterior cage.  Below the apex of the roof on the east gable-end of the barn is a window opening. 

In the center of the west gable-end of the barn, directly above the girt-line siding divide there appears to have once been a hay door that is now covered with horizontal boards.  Above this aperture, below the apex of the roof, appears to be an ocular window that is also boarded up.

The exterior walls are covered with unpainted vertical board siding, except for the east gable-attic, which is wood shingles.  The roof is covered with corrugated metal panels.

Historical significance:

The oldest barns still found in the state are called the “English Barn,” “side-entry barn,” “eave entry,” or a 30 x 40. They are simple buildings with rectangular plan, pitched gable roof, and a door or doors located on one or both of the eave sides of the building based on the grain warehouses of the English colonists’ homeland. The name “30 by 40” originates from its size (in feet), which was large enough for 1 family and could service about 100 acres. The multi-purpose use of the English barn is reflected by the building’s construction in three distinct bays - one for each use. The middle bay was used for threshing, which is separating the seed from the stalk in wheat and oat by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage.

Field Notes

Barn is on S side of Gager Hill Road; 3.5-acre parcel is at SW corner of Devotion Rd. & Gager Hill Rd.; owner lives on adjacent parcel at 83 Devotion Rd north of Gager Hill. Located in Scotland Center National Register Historic District.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Garage
• Garden
• Other

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is located on a 3.5-acre property located to the south of the village center of Scotland, in a rural residential area with a few scattered farms. The property is bordered by Gager Hill Road to the north and Devotion Road to the east; the barn is situated close to the pavement line of Gager Hill Road, to the west of the intersection with Devotion Road. This property is under the same ownership as 83 Devotion Road, a c. 1746 2 1/2-story Colonial-style house located across Gager Hill Road on the northwest corner of Gager Hill and Devotion Roads, on a 1.1-acre parcel. The house is a five-bay center-chimney structure with its ridge-line oriented north-south parallel to Devotion Road and its principal entry in the east facade facing Devotion Road. A garage is located to the west close to Gager Hill Road and is accessed by a drive from Gager Hill. There are no other structures on the south parcel, which aside from the barn consists largely of open fields and scattered trees. There are two large ponds connected by a stream at the south end of the property. Beyond the borders to the property to the south and east are large tracts of farmland. To the north there is a large expanse of woodland.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Vertical Siding
• Wood Shingle

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Metal

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

36 x 26 feet

Date Compiled

03/23/2011

Compiled By

E. Reisman & T. Levine; reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Joan Tomasewski, 10/12/2010.

Town of Scotland’s GIS Viewer:
http://www.wincog-gis.org/ags_map/default.asp?town=Scotland
(Parcel ID #21/25/23:  3.5 acres: structures; ID # 21/19/22: 1.1 acre, house c. 1746, garage)
 
Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 03/23/2011.

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.