Barn

Pettee Stone Barn // 1839

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This historic stone barn in Newton’s Upper Falls village is representative of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of this once thriving nineteenth century mill village. Known as the Pettee Stone Barn, the structure dates to 1839 when Otis Pettee (1795-1853), who managed an iron foundry and machine-works for cotton machinery, built this structure as a warehouse. The barn was said to have been used additionally as a location for raising silkworms by Pettee’s company. After the business closed, the handsome barn was used later in the 19th and early 20th century as a carriage and horse barn for a shipping company and today, is rented to local businesses. Architecturally, the barn is significant for its use of fieldstone walls with door and window surrounds of cut stone and brick. A monitor roof runs the length of the gable ridge and illuminates the interior spaces. The Stone Barn remains remarkably preserved today and is a landmark in the community. 

Emery-Scudder Barn // c.1845

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There is something so enchanting about vernacular buildings with a backdrop of New England nature. This mid-19th century barn is located in the Chocorua Basin area of Tamworth, New Hampshire, and it tells the story of the area from its agricultural past to become a prominent summer colony in the White Mountains. The barn was once part of the Emery Farm that was purchased by Boston couple, Rebecca and Marshall Sears Scudder, the son of hardware dealer Charles Scudder of Brookline, who had the house moved and used the property as their summer retreat. The Emery Farmhouse was renovated and renamed, ‘Birchentower’ and purchased by Scudder’s half-brother, Horace Elisha Scudder (1838-1901) in 1889 from Rebecca following the death of her husband. Horace was a writer of numerous novels, children’s books, histories and biographies and introduced Hans Christian Anderson to the English-speaking world. A year after buying Birchentower, he became editor of the Atlantic Monthly, a post he held for eight years. The Scudders preserved the old Emery Barn across from the summer cottage which now sets the bucolic scene from the new scenic vista overlooking Chocorua Lake and Mountain beyond.

West Monitor Barn // 1904

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Located in Richmond, Vermont, this four-and-a-half-story, wood-frame barn with striking monitor roof, is one of two nearly identical such barns on adjacent farms in the small rural farming community. In 1871, Uzziel Stevens Whitcomb (1817-1899) and his brother, acquired adjacent farms on East Main Street in the Winooski River Valley. Uzziel’s farm grew and he created one of the largest dairy farms in Vermont, spanning around six hundred acres with about 120 cows. Uzziel’s son, Moses S. Whitcomb (1842-1933), continued his father’s massive dairy farm and acquired nearby farms, growing his property to span over 900-acres of farmland. In 1901, with one of the largest dairy farms in the state, he erected the first and larger barn, now known as the East Monitor Barn, and in 1904, added a second to the west, the West Monitor Barn. Unlike many barns west of the Green Mountains, this one followed the more traditional northern New England bank barn design with a manure basement, cow stables on the second floor, and two-floors of hay storage above. The barn is now commonly used as a venue for weddings and other special events!

Warren Federal Blues Stable // c.1860

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The Warren Federal Blues is an active independent military organization of the Rhode Island militia that was founded in 1798 and today, serves primarily as a ceremonial honor guard and as historic educational organization in Warren, Rhode Island. Members originally served as marines to police navy seamen on the USS General Greene (1799), which was commanded by Christopher Raymond Perry, the father of Oliver Hazard Perry, who also served aboard the ship. The Warren Federal Blues still remain part of the Rhode Island militia but serve in a largely ceremonial and educational role using period muskets and cannon for special events. The organization purchased the historic barn of the Baker-Merchant House on Main Street in about 1990, saving it from demolition for expansion of church parking, and moved the former barn to this site, adjacent to the old Narragansett Engine House, creating a unique composition of diminutive, but spectacular buildings. The former barn, which dates to around 1860, though is likely older, features paired double-leaf doors on the facade, round-arch window in the attic, and a flared roof with cupola centered on the ridge. 

Joseph and Fanny Turner House & Stable // 1872

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Joseph Stanley Turner (1841-1893) married Fannie Pratt (1849-1930) in 1871 and within a year, had this large, Second Empire style house built on Webster Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, for his family. Joseph Turner was a Civil War veteran and owned a shoe factory in town, making his fortune manufacturing shoes and boots which were sold all over the country. The main house is two-stories with a symmetrical plan with central entrance and projecting portico. An equally significant mansard-roofed stable sits behind and to the side of the main house, and can be classified as an example in the Stick style with applied stickwork at the siding and in the hay door, as well as the pedimented dormer with decorative truss.

Gallup Farm Carriage House // 1906

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This handsome Shingle style building was constructed in 1906 as a carriage house of a larger farm property in Scotland, Connecticut. The barn is said to have been built for Archie Gallup, who purchased the old Manning farm just west of the town green in Scotland. The 1 1/2-story carriage-house with a gambrel-roof stands out for its principal entry of paneled wooden doors and above, a large, flared hood featuring two pedimented gable-dormers. The entire building is clad with varied shingles to add complexity to the design, catching the attention of all who drive by.

Roughwood Estate Cow Barn // 1892

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Like the Roughwood Mansion and carriage house, this building was designed and built in Brookline, Massachusetts, in the early 1890s as part of the “Roughwood” estate. Despite its high-style and ornate detailing, the building was actually constructed as a cow barn. Built in two phases for its two owners, William Cox and Ernest Dane, the large barn structure blends Victorian design into a use more reserved for vernacular detailing. The building was designed by Andrews, Jacques and Rantoul, and like the mansion and carriage house, blends Queen Anne and Shingle styles under one roof. Ever-since the estate became a college in the 1960s, the building has been used as a maintenance building. It appears that since it has been owned by Boston College as part of it’s Messina Campus, it is undergoing a thoughtful restoration!

Southport General Store and Barn // 1895

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In 1882, Edward Everett Pinkham, known as Everett, opened a new store in one side of his house on Hendrick Hill in the island community of Southport, Maine. The store was known for years as E. E. Pinkham and Son. Everett soon built a proper store adjacent to his house. He served the Town of Southport in many capacities: Postmaster, Town Clerk (1887-1905) Treasurer (1883), and Selectman (1888-1893). Sadly, on May 21, 1895, the store and house burned along with all of the old town records inside. The community helped Everett rebuild the present general store before the busy summer season. Edward’s son “Charlie”, would take over the business and the building has served as the town’s social center ever since. Year-round and summer residents bump into eachother at the store, catch up, and share local news, like every general store should be! Sadly, in so many communities, the “general store” has been replaced by big box retailers or convenience stores, removing the sense of community or place, so these businesses are more important than ever!

Weir Farm Barn // c.1820

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Weir Farm, later an artists retreat and studios, was once a fully operating farm, with horses, cows, oxen, chickens, vegetables, and numerous gardens. To artist Julian Alden Weir, farming was more of a hobby than an economic necessity, undertaken for aesthetic reasons. Weir’s romantic vision of the landscape extended to his use of oxen, carts, and hand tools instead of modern machinery available at the time. Over its long history the barn complex has housed a milking room, a carriage house/wagon shed, a garage, a tack room, an equipment and tool room, hay lofts, a corn crib, and stalls for donkeys, ponies and horses. The rustic barn is a typical “English-barn” built between 1815 and 1835 by The Beers’ family, who owned the property until 1880. Weir used the barn as a prominent feature in many of his paintings like “New England Barnyard” and “After the Ride.” It remains an important piece of agricultural and artistic significance to the now nationally recognized Historic Site.

Sumner Stanley House // c.1850

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One of the larger homes in Weare, New Hampshire is this sprawling mid-19th century residence, seemingly built around 1850 for Sumner Stanley and his wife, Ruth. Stanley and Ruth (née Dow) acquired land from Ruth’s family and they built their home here. By 1856, Stanley sold a small piece of land to town just to the east of his house for the construction of the North Weare Schoolhouse. The Italianate style house with its Stick style attached barn structure have some amazing detailing!

Cyrus Hazen House // c.1850

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The backroads of New England always lead you to great discoveries! This time, driving around Weare, New Hampshire, I stumbled upon this large farmhouse on the side of the road. The home was owned by Cyrus Hazen by 1858 and due to its style, I would date it to be built in the 1850s. Cyrus Hazen married Louisa Bartlett (as her second marriage) in 1847 and they appear to have had this home built a few years later. The Hazen’s ran a farm from this home for decades. Sometime after the Civil War, the home would have gotten the full-length verandah (front porch) and a side tower, both Victorian-era additions. The home is now attached to the historic barn by an ell.

Frederic Bronson Barn // c.1895

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Not many buildings in Greenfield Hill, Fairfield, Connecticut showcase the neighborhood’s transition from farming community to affluent suburb quite as well as this stone barn turned house on Hillside Road. The stone barn was constructed around c.1895 for Frederic Bronson Jr. (1851-1900) a prominent New York attorney and treasurer of the New York Life and Trust Company which was founded by his grandfather, Isaac Bronson. In about 1892, Frederic demolished his ancestral home and hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a new country estate for his family. The house was called Verna and is also located in Fairfield. Today Verna is known best as the Fairfield County Day School. As with many wealthy men of the Gilded Age, Frederic wanted his rural retreat to also work as a gentleman’s farm, where he could have staff farm and tend to livestock on the expansive rolling hills bounded by historic stone walls. He appears to have had this barn built for his livestock shortly after the main house, Verna was completed nearby. Bronson died in 1900 and some of the property was later sold off. This property was acquired by a Charles Stillman in 1941 and it is likely him that converted the barn into a charming residence.

Tudor Barn // c.1845

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Built in the 1840’s as a carriage barn, and once attached to a nearby mansion now gone, this barn sits near the eastern shores of Spot Pond, a major feature in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, just north of Boston. The barn sits in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and was a part of Frederic Tudor’s rural estate out in the “country”. Frederic Tudor is best known as Boston’s “Ice King”, he was the founder of the Tudor Ice Company and a pioneer of the international ice trade in the early 19th century. He made a fortune shipping ice cut from New England ponds to ports in the Caribbean, Europe, and as far away as India and Hong Kong. After the turn of the 20th century, many of the buildings surrounding Spot Pond were razed as to secure the watershed, protecting the surrounding town’s drinking water. Frederic Tudors large estate was razed, but the barn survived. Years of deferred maintenance and lack of preservation by the late 1990’s made the old barn threatened with demolition. This was exacerbated by a fire damaging the roof and in 2003, a wall collapsed. Local preservationists rallied together to acquire funding (both private and public grants) to restore the building. It remains a highlight on the walks around Spot Pond and Middlesex Fells Reservation, and is a visual link to the earlier days in what was once remote “Boston”.

Greater Light // c.1790

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Located on the island of Nantucket, this barn, now known as Greater Light was built circa 1790. Although the exact date of construction is unknown, historic research indicates it was built sometime during the ownership of two early Macy family members who held the property between 1748 and 1814. The barn remained in the Macy family until 1866, when Zephaniah Macy (then in his eighties) sold the property with the barn to their neighbor David Folger. Folger most likely used the barn for his herd of milking cows. In the summer of 1929, Hanna and Gertrude Monaghan, two Quaker sisters, discovered the barn and saw it as a perfect structure to become their home and art studio when vacationing on the island. The sisters began working on the dilapidated building and set about transforming it into their own summer oasis, adorning it with cast-off architectural elements, decorative objects, and eclectic furniture. Hanna Monaghan, the surviving sister, bequeathed Greater Light and its contents to the Nantucket Historical Association in 1972. The building is open in the summers for visitors who can catch a glimpse at the spirit of Nantucket as an artist’s colony in the 1920s and beyond.

Scott Farm – Pig Barn // 1911

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Cows, horses and pigs once dominated the 571-acre landscape of Scott Farm in Dummerston, VT. We have seen where the farmer, cows, and horses lived, so now it’s time to see where the pigs “pigged” out. This barn building was constructed around the time of the horse barn when the farm was owned by Frederick Holbrook II of Boston. The one-and-a-half-story pig barn, like the others, was built into the landscape which would allow for the animals to easily get into the structures. This building was used as the “Cider House” in the 1999 movie Cider House Rules.