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read Champion Drill Co., Avon, NY, - USA
While examining my find, I suddenly realized that I was standing in the middle of what, at one time, was an old barn foundation. The massive stones that made up the foundation indicated that it had been a very large barn.
It’s not uncommon to travel through Pennsylvania’s mountains and come across these old foundations, and when I do I walk around the perimeter, picturing the type of barn and why it had been built in that spot.
Lastly, I wonder how and why the barn came to this point of deterioration; what the farmer’s hopes and disappointments were; whether the farm prospered and the fate of the family. Today, working farms are rapidly disappearing from rural America. Some of the barns remain as monuments to a way of life that will never again be experienced on such a grand scale. Most barns were built to last so it’s not uncommon to see a barn standing in the middle of a housing development.
During the 19th century, these small log barns fell into disfavor with the farmers. After toiling long and hard, the farmers began to see a profit. Bigger barns were built, with beams cut at local sawmills.
Board siding was nailed to the walls, adding grandeur to the new centerpiece of the farm.
Walk into any early barn and you’ll surely be impressed by the massive beams supporting the structure. These beams were the heritage of the first-growth forest that our ancestors had to clear to create farm land.
I am continually in awe when I check to see how the beams are cut and notched to receive each other, tightly fitted and then fastened with wooden pegs. Of course, these wooden post and beam barns were built on the ground in sections called bents and then raised into position by a
framing crew, using muscles, animals, along with block and tackle.
You can tell by the barn’s structure as to the area that the settlers came from. The English barns were rectangular and windowless, with the doors centered on the long side and opening into a passage flanked by stalls.
The Germans built barns, which were called sweetens or swissers, that were set into the hillside; thus creating two-ground level entrances.
Most Pennsylvania barns were of this architecture. The Germans also built stone and eventually brick barns.
Round barns owe their inspiration to a religious group, the Shakers, of Western Massachusetts, which used the circle to symbolize godliness.
This round barn architecture was popular in the westward bound farmers.
The upper level, of most barns constructed before the late 19th century, was planned around the all important threshing floor, where grains of wheat, barley and oats were beaten with flails. The threshing floors were made of closely laid planks that prevented the separated grain from falling to the level below. It was always situated between two large doors that could be opened on a windy day to allow a brisk wind to sweep across.
On each side of the threshing floor were two mows, one held sheaves of grain ready for threshing, and the other received the empty straw and hay that would be used to bed and feed livestock. The lower level of the barn contained the stalls for cattle, horses and oxen. In order to keep this hay from molding, the barn siding boards were not tightly put together, allowing for air to circulate between the boards.
Later, in the middle of the 19th century, cupolas grew popular, giving the barns a touch of elegance.
Do you know why barns were and are still painted red? Well, it’s not because red was the preferred color but because red paint was less expensive than other colors.
Many years ago when visiting our son’s family in Belgium, we traveled to Holland, France, Germany and Switzerland, and in each country, we took careful notice of the style of barns, all of which were different.