barns

Goodnow Farm Cow Barn // 1925

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Located in the bucolic town of Princeton, Massachusetts, Goodnow Farm sits at the heart of a landscape that has been farmed for more than two and a half centuries. The farm and road take their name from the Goodnow family who owned the land here for well over 100 years. The farmhouse, which dates to around 1786, was built for Edward Goodnow (1742-1798) and his wife Lois, who married in 1770. Edward was a corporal during the Revolution, serving both at the Lexington alarm on April 19, 1775, and at Dorchester Heights in 1776, before settling in Princeton to spend his remaining years on the farm. The property was inherited by his son, Edward and later by his son, William B. Goodnow (1815-1904), the brother of Edward Augustus Goodnow, a merchant who made his fortune in Worcester and donated the Town Hall and Library to his birthplace. After nearly 150 years of Goodnow family ownership, in 1917 the old farm was sold to industrialist, Charles T. Crocker, Jr. of Fitchburg and became a gentleman’s farm. Crocker used the farm as a summer retreat from the city and hired staff to maintain the working farm aesthetic, though Charles Crocker did not actually do much or any of the agricultural laboring himself. Investing in the old farm to maintain the rural charm, Crocker added this large cow barn and attached dairy house. The shingled barn is roughtly 80 by 36 feet, with its long, west side built into the slope of the hillside. The barn was a state-of-the-art farm building for its day, with its high gambrel roof supported on closely spaced rafters of dimensioned lumber sheltering a single soaring space
built for the moving and storage of massive amounts of hay. After the death of his father, in 1956, Mr. Crocker’s son, Charles T. Crocker, III, gave the main part of the farm, in two parcels totaling 636 acres, to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, to be preserved in perpetuity as a wildlife sanctuary. He made an additional gift of 118 acres in 1963. Over the subsequent decades, other parcels were acquired and the site has been operated as the Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, covering roughly 1,100 acres of the oldest farmland in Princeton, with twelve miles of public walking trails and historic stone walls. In the 1960s, the barn interior was altered to provide classroom, storage and exhibition space for Mass Audubon, with housing for the working farm’s sheep in the barn next door.

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. 

Asa Bacon Farmhouse // 1783

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Located in northern Canterbury, Connecticut, this rural farmhouse was built following the American Revolution, showcasing the emergence of the Federal style from the Colonial Georgian type farmhouses before. The house dates to 1783 and was built by Captain Asa Bacon (1735-1819), a wealthy farmer and captain in the Revolutionary War. The home was also occupied by his son, Asa Bacon Jr. (1771-1857) a Yale educated lawyer who practiced law in town before moving to Litchfield. Asa Jr. was a turnpike promoter, advocating for turnpikes through the formerly sleepy agricultural town, opening it up to trade and commerce. The early Federal-period home features a five-bay facade and central entry with triangular pediment and fluted pilasters. The house appears much like it would have when originally built besides the Victorian-era two-over-two window sashes installed in the late 19th century. The farm even retains a few 19th century barns, likely built when the windows were replaced by later owners.