Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• National Register

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a barn complex towards the east of Newgate Road with Barn-I attached to the east eave-side of the circa 1763 historic main residence, Viet Tavern. Barn-II is situated towards the further east of the main residence while the ice-house, Barn-III is towards the south-east. A tobacco shed, Barn-IV, can be seen towards the north of the main residence with its west gable-side abutting to Newgate Road.

Barn-IV: This is a 1 1/2- story barn with entries from both the gable-side and the eave-side. The original barn with board and batten siding has been extended, a section which has vertical siding. The west gable-side of the main barn faces Newgate Road while its ridge line runs east-west perpendicular to the road. The main façade of the barn is the west gable-façade with two main entrances through two wagon door entrances. The façade has two hinged hay doors centered above each main entrance. The gable attic above has deep soffit lined by cornice board and has a framed window just below the apex of the roof. The north eave-side of the barn has five side hinged windows towards the west punctuating the original board-and-batten wall and has coursed fieldstone masonry foundation along the grade level. The vertical siding towards the east has a system of ventilation through side slats where alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors, each held in place by its own hook. The west gable-side of the barn has a distinct dropped girt siding divide line separating the gable attic above which has a six-pane window just below the apex of the roof. The west gable-side of the barn is ventilated through the vertical siding in which the alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors, each held in place by its own hook. The south eave-side of the barn has four equally spaced hinged windows towards the west on the original board and batten wall with coursed fieldstone masonry foundation along the grade level. Two pairs of hinged wagon doors with blacksmith hardware can be seen towards the west of the south eave-side with the vertical siding above ventilated through side slats where alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors, each held in place by its own hook. 
The wooden frame of the barn is supported on coursed fieldstone masonry foundation. The original ore-barn has board-and-batten siding on the walls and slate roofing. The later extension of the original barn towards the east has vertical siding with side slats for ventilation and has asphalt shingle roofing.

Historical Significance:

The historic circa 1763 Viets Travern is listed in the National Register [72001338 NRIS].

The original New England barn with board-and-batten siding was used as a work space. The later extension of the barn towards the east with side slats on the vertical siding suggests its usage as a tobacco shed.

The New England barn or gable front barn was the successor to the English barn and relies on a gable entry rather than an entry under the eaves. The gable front offers many practical advantages. Roofs drain off the side, rather than flooding the dooryard. With the main drive floor running parallel to the ridge, the size of the barn could be increased to accommodate larger herds by adding additional bays to the rear gable end. Although it was seen by many as an improvement over the earlier side-entry English Barn, the New England barn did not replace its predecessor but rather coexisted with it, as both types continued to be built.

The tobacco barn, or shed as it is called in the Connecticut River Valley, is one of the most distinctive of the single-crop barns. They tend to be long, low windowless buildings with pitched roofs. They are characterized by vented sides to regulate air flow and allow harvested tobacco to cure at the appropriate rate.  Derived initially from the design of the English barn, the shed is composed of a fixed skeleton consisting of two- or three-aisle bents repeated at intervals of 15 feet to the desired length. The wood-framed bents sit on piers of stone or concrete and the bents are connected by girts and diagonal braces. Typically there are two doors at each end, making the shed a “drive-through,” although some sheds are accessed through doors on the sides. The interior structural framework serves a second purpose in addition to supporting the walls and roof of the building; it provides a framework for the rails used to hang the tobacco as it cures.

This is accomplished with one of four different systems (more than one method may be utilized in a single shed):

a) Vertical slats - siding in which every second board is hinged at the top and tilted out at the bottom by means of a horizontal cleat, that lifts several boards at once, and metal prop hooks to hold the boards in place;

b) Side slats - Vertical siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors, each held in place by its own hook;

c) Less commonly, horizontal siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the top edge and open like long narrow awnings; this system may be employed along the lower edge of the wall in conjunction with vertical or side slats;

d) A series of large doors along one of the long sides of the building with the other sides of the building vented by one or more of the other methods.

e) The tobacco sheds can have additional ventilation through side-pivot awning vents on the gable-ends, which co-exist with one or more of the above four systems of ventilation.

Field Notes

The Viets Tavern and Farm is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Tavern building dates to the 18th century. A barn (I) now attached to the tavern building, may have originally been free-standing, but was joined by an early 20th c. addition. Some of the farm buildings have been removed, but as of 2003 there remained a large post and beam barn (II), and ice house (III) and a tobacco barn (IV). These photos were taken in 2003 as part of a study performed by Paul B. Bailey Architect for the then CT Historical Commission. Barn-IV: The barn is visible from the road and the exterior is accessible to the public. It faces west and is in a residential area, across the street from Newgate Prison, adjacent to Viets Tavern. Built in c. 1850, it is constructed of fieldstone, board and batten with a gabled slate roof. It has a post and beam frame and New England typology. It was used as workspace and is still used that way today. Built for non-farm use, this barn has a shallow basement for temporary storage of copper ore. The upper level housed mine workers. The westernmost section appears to be an addition used for tobacco curing.

Use (Historic)

• workspace

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Other
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The 26.5 acres property is located towards the east of Newgate Road in a historically significant area with the property, Viets Tavern, on the National Register (NRIS 72001338). The National Historic Landmark, Old Newgate Prison Musem, is located towards the west of the Tavern across Newgate Road. A few residential plots can be seen towards the south of the property while dense woodland surrounds the property towards the north and the east.

The 1763 main residence, which is a contributing building to the National Register, is situated towards the south-west corner of the property, abutting to Newgate Road. Barn-I is attached to the east eave-side of the main residence, with its ridge line running east-west perpendicular to the road.  Barn-II is situated towards the further east of the main residence while the ice-house, Barn-III is towards the south-east. The ridge line of Barn-II runs east-west perpendicular to the road while that of Barn-III runs north-south parallel to the road. The property includes two other small gable-roof sheds: one towards the west of Barn-II and the other towards the north of Barn-III. Dense woodland can be seen towards the east of Barn-III. A tobacco shed, Barn-IV, is situated towards the north of the main residence with its west gable-side abutting to Newgate Road. Parcels of farm land can be seen towards the east and north-east of the tobacco shed.

Building Typology

• New England
• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Board & Batten
• Fieldstone
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Post & Beam

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle
• Slate

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

09/26/2010

Compiled By

T. Levine and M. Patnaik, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field-notes provided by –
J.Ward Mathis, jward61@gmail.com

Additional photographs and notes provided by-
Charlotte R. Hitchcock, charlotteh@snet.net

Viets Tavern, National Register Nomination Number- 72001338 NRIS, National Park Service, 1972.
http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/72001338.pdf
http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/72001338.pdf

Information retrieved on September 26th, 2010 from website http://www.zillow.com

Information retrieved on September 26th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

GIS Map information retrieved on September 26th, 2010 from website http://www.crcog.org

O’Gorman, James F., Connecticut Valley Vernacular: the Vanishing Landscape and Architecture of the New England Tobacco Fields, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, 144 pages.

Sexton, James, PhD; Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history.

Visser, Thomas D.,Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.