Communtiy Notebook

Barn Razing

A barn stood aloft a hill’s crest,
Like a king viewing a court’s assembly.
—from “Stanley River” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In rural life, the largest human structure is the barn. Composed of wood, unheated (though equipped with insulating hay), these broad, fundamental buildings rise, central to any farm.
Jesus, the world’s Messiah (according to some) was born in a barn. Barns are also the province of teenagers, adulterers, smokers, and animals. They represent the intermediate stage between a house and a field. The word “barn” derives from the Old English “beraern”, from the core words “bere” [“barley”] and “aern” [“house”]—a “barley house.” (A related word is “farina”).
Colonial farmers lashed a small tree to the peak of a barn as they offered a prayer of thanksgiving. Originally, barns were unpainted in this nation, but eventually farmers improvised the famous “barn red” paint by mixing red oxide of iron, skim milk, lime and linseed oil—a combination found to be fire resistant. The types of barn roofs include the salt box, the gable on hip, the bevelly jog, the snug Dutch, the English gambrel, the Dutch gambrel, and the broken gable.
“It is pretty to behold our back settlements where the barns are as large as palaces, while the owners live in log huts; a sign of thrifty farming,” wrote Lewis Evans in 1753.
There are two types of animals in barns: the bidden and the unbidden. The first include horses, sheep, cows, rabbits, sometimes chickens. The latter are rats, mice, bats, owls, cats. The unbidden form a foresty ecology—owls and cats eat mice and rats. (Bats eat gnats.)
I have noticed that barns are excellent sites for parties. They unite a group without confining it. Perhaps this is because most barns were built by gatherings of people. In rural life, the only way to lift large wood is with numbers of strong torsos.
Ironically, barns are fragile, though voluminous and high. They are wooden, usually (although after World War II, aluminum and sheet steel began to be employed in their erection) and aging.
Recently Chronogram received a letter which began: “Is there anyone out there who would be interested in working on a project to document the types and ages of barns still remaining in Ulster County?... Our barns are rapidly disappearing.” The letter was signed Sally E. Svenson.
I called Sally on the telephone. Only one of 20 barns is in decent condition, she said. They’re anachronisms; there’s no reason for big barns anymore. Since the invention of the round hay baler, hay is no longer stored in barns. Hay remains in the fields. And now they can even wrap it in plastic wrap.
“But weren’t there always bales of hay?” I asked. “Didn’t Monet paint bales of hay?”
“Those were hay mounds, “ she said.
Barns are also are robbed for wood: “Some of the wood they’re built with doesn’t exist anymore.”
The problem is that we don’t see these as historic structures: “They don’t have 200 years of history behind them; they’re still considered yesterday’s junk.” Also, insurance companies consider them liabilities and fire hazards.
There is a particular barn Sally passes, on Route 1 in High Falls, that she loves. It is in terminal condition, and each week, when she comes up from New York City, she watches for it.
“I keep looking at that barn to see if it’s still there. That’s what motivates me, in part [in this project], is that barn. But I think it’s too late for that barn. This year’s snow will do it right in.”
But all barn hope is not dead. The New York State Barn Coalition, founded in 1997, fights for preservation. A 25 percent state income tax credit is available to barn keepers. And the recent New York State Barns Restoration and Preservation Program disburses two million dollars to repair structures at least 50 years old.
But the immediate need, in Ulster County, is to locate and document our barn culture. Are there beautiful, large, smiling, Dutch gambrel barns deep in the back roads of Kerhonkson?
Sally E. Svenson may be reached at (212 )831-4247 or (845) 687-9352. Her e-mail is cosven@gte.net.
The New York State Barn Coalition c/o Preservation League of New York State, 44 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206. Telephone: (518) 462 5684 or (607) 272 6510. E-mail: info@preservenys.org.
— Sparrow