Building Name (Common)
Brigham's TavernBuilding Name (Historic)
Brigham's TavernAddress
12 Boston Turnpike (Rte 44)Coventry
Typology
Designations
Historic Significance
Architectural Description:
This is a 2 1/2-story gable-entry barn with vertical siding painted red. The eave sides are sheathed with board and batten vertical siding. The ground floor of the gable end facing the street has a single large sliding door. The second floor has two single-pane windows flanking a hay door. An one-over-one window sits below the gable peak. The trim on this window is red, matching the barn while the trim on the other windows and doors is painted white, along with the hay door and sliding door. There is an attached one-story shed-roofed addition on the left eave-side, covering most of the length of the first floor. The east eave-side has a one-story shed-roofed addition at the center flanked by a double-hung window to left and right. Above in the second floor there appears to be a single-pane window near the left (south) corner. The girt line sheathing boards on the south gable-end are cut to a point. Grade slopes down toward the rear (north).
Historical Significance:
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.
Historical Background:
Brigham's Tavern is listed on the National Register for Historic Places. The other structure on the property is a c. 1870 barn. It is 3 floors tall, with the third suspended from the barn’s rafters, in an unusual framing arrangement (Zimmerman).
Field Notes
Stone plaque in front: “THE BRIGHAMS --- GEORGE WASHINGTON Breakfasted here November 9, 1783 as recorded in his diary.”
National Register of Historic Places 3/25/1982