What do you know about Barns? Part One

The first great barns built in this country were those of the Dutch settlers of the Hudson, Mohawk, and Schoharie valleys in New York State and scattered sections of New Jersey. On the exterior, the most notable feature of the Dutch barn is the broad gable roof, which in early examples (now extremely rare), extended very low to the ground.

The design of the Dutch Barn:
The exterior features a broad gable roof, a roof that in early Dutch barns would extend very low to the ground. The barns feature center doors for wagons on the narrow end. A pent roof, or a pentice, over the doors offered some protection from inclement weather. The siding was usually horizontal and had few details. Dutch barns often lacked windows and had no openings other than the doors and holes for purple martins. The design of the Dutch barn allows it to have a more massive presence than its actual size dictates it should, the result is that Dutch barns appear larger than they actually are.
Inside the barns are supported by heavy structural systems. The mortised and tenoned and pegged beams are arranged in "H-shaped" units. The design alludes to cathedral interiors with columned aisles along a central interior space, used in Dutch barns for threshing. It is this design that links Dutch barns to the Old World barns of Europe. Another distinctive feature of the Dutch barn is the ends of the cross beams protruding through the columns. These protrusions are often rounded to form tongues. This feature is found in no other style of barn design.

One of these barns pictured belongs to a new listing of mine coming up just in time for Spring! A charming Antique Colonial, with the BARN and almost an acre of land-stay tuned!