NEWSLETTER SPRING 2004 Vol. 17, Issue 1, part two

 

Fig. 3 Verplank - Van Wyck Barn - Exterior close-up of upper section of end wall. View of side wall of cantilever in line with purlin plate. (Photo - Greg Huber)

 

 

 

 

Fig. 4 Verplank - Van Wyck Barn - Interior close-up of base of cantilever, looking up. End wall anchorbeam is seen in middle of photo. Base of cantilever is framed with timber 18 inches to left of anchorbeam that forms opening to interior of barn for possible ventilation of crops and protection of threshing doors during inclement weather. (Photo - Greg Huber)

One particularly interesting aspect of the barns with cantilevers involves their geographic distribution. The seven barns with cantilevers are seen in five different counties. The most northern barn, in Dutchess County, is more than 100 miles from the most southern barn, in Mercer County. This is indicative of a quite extensive geographic area by the late-eighteenth century. This distribution also indicates that cantilever barns did not apparently constitute a distinct regionalism. Assuming that the ratio of cantilever barns that existed in the late 1700s was more or less the same ratio as is currently seen (seven cantilever barns to the total number of barns or about 700), there were likely a few hundred barns with cantilevers constructed by the late 1700s. From the current numbers, it is clearly seen that the attrition rate of barns with cantilevers has been profound. Unlike the barn with dekbalk construction, the cantilevered barn, however numerous they might have been in the eighteenth century, would not have constituted a distinct form of the Dutch-American barn. Its basic construction duplicates hundreds of other classic-form barns that have been observed in the last several decades.

European Cantilever Barns
Certainly, there are a number of barns in the Netherlands and adjacent lowland Germany that closely duplicate the few cantilever barns seen in America (8). One particularly intriguing example is located in the Netherlands. It is within one mile of the German border in Rekken in the northeast section of the Gelderland province. It is a multi-bay structure with ankerbalk construction with a very short verdiepingh. The barn probably dates from the second half of the eighteenth century. These European cantilever barns were quite likely the prototypes of Dutch-American examples.

Fig. 5 Rekken Barn - Exterior of end wall with cantilever. This second half of the eighteenth-century barn is in the Netherlands in the extreme eastern section of Gelderland province near German border. (photo - Greg Huber)

Conclusions
Dozens of Dutch-American barns have been saved from the bulldozer and other destructive agents that have decimated the last remaining barns in the past 50 years. Timbers from these barns have either been recycled into "parts barns" or have been converted into weekend or vacation homes often many miles from their original locations. Certainly these efforts have preserved some information of the original construction of a number of barns. But far too often the fine details of much of the original fabric of the barns have been seriously sacrificed. Quite frequently, barn contractors and renovators have simply failed to note at the time of disassembly the hundreds of pieces of information available to them about the barns original appearance, and thus much has been lost forever due to the lack of proper documentation.

Hundreds of other barns in the last century have simply been destroyed either by the weather or left to decay or have been disposed of by the severely modifying forces of suburban development. Many barns were also destroyed during the Industrial Revolution in the middle third of the nineteenth century, as the classic Dutch barn form very often lost its original utility. These barns unquestionably possessed innumerable expressions of regionalisms and other special traits that could have provided greater levels of comprehension of how builders and farmers in their economic and agricultural environments solved their ever-present problems. On a broad scale, they often found solutions in the common building traditions with which they were so familiar because of their lifetime experiences in the Dutch-American culture. On a more personal level, certain solutions were made that related to specific details in constructing their barns using their own special talents and sensibilities.

The two very unusual barns and the several barn forms that have been included in the new classification system reflect the manner in which particular folk people living centuries. ago demonstrated certain levels of consciousness at certain times and locations. They followed certain principles of construction techniques, both traditionally-based and self-imposed. Their thoughts are reflected by every detail, both big and small, seen throughout the barns they constructed. Builders had to carefully decide which thoughts would be successful in particular situations and often their decisions were based on widely accepted cultural and regional manners. However, common standards were not always used and certain farmers saw advantages in using particular construction methods that very likely were infrequently incorporated in many other barns. They chose to adopt certain features such as cantilevers or framing units such as dekbalken that satisfied their peculiar needs. That they did allows us to determine if the methods they used actually emerged as distinct barn forms within the context of the Dutch-American culture they lived in.

As it is, there are only a few barns left where we have the privilege of trying to imagine what barn builders' and farmers' thoughts were and why they may have had them. Our task and challenge is to try to categorize them in some meaningful way.

End Notes
1 - Greg Huber, Classification of various forms of Dutch American barns, The New World Dutch Barn Survey 2000, Herkimer, New York.
2 -. Greg Huber, "Regionalisms in Dutch Barns: A Possibility for Future Subtyping," Dutch Barn Research Journal 1 and 2 (1991 and 1992): 78 - 87.
3 - Conversation with Jaap Schipper of Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 16, 1998.
4 - G. Berends, Historisch Houtconstructies in Nederland (Arnhem, Netherlands: Stichting Historisch Boerderij-Onderzoek, 1996).
5 - Gregory D. Huber, "Framing Techniques as Clues to Dating in Certain Pre-Revolutionary Barns: Major and Minor Rafter Systems, Lapped Dovetail Joinery, Verdiepinghs, and Other Traits," Material Culture 29, No.2 (summer 1997): 1 - 42.
- Peter Sinclair, "The Saugerties Barns - Six Dutch American Barns in Ulster County," Dutch Barn Preservation Society Newsletter, Volume 9 Issue 1 (Spring 1996): 1 - 4.
6 - Greg Huber, "Cantilevered Dutch-American Barns," Timber Framing; No. 43 (March 1997): 8-9.
7 - Gregory D. Huber, "Ninety-degree Roof Rotations in New Jersey Dutch Barns," Material Culture 31, No.1 (spring 1999): 1-20.
8.- Malcolm Kirk, Silent Spaces - The Last of the Great Aisled Barns (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994) 86 and 97.

Gregory Huber, historian; author and lecturer was part of the panel of the 2003 Dutch Barn Symposium; that is pictured on page 7 of this issue.

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AMBROGIO LORENZETTI, THE EFFECT OF GOOD GOVERNMENT ON THE CITY, CA. 1338. FRESCO (SIENA)

One can imagine the chant being sung by the pair of flaillers, in the center of this detail of the ancient fresco, as they thresh the grain in unison.

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The Giant 2003 Dutch Barn Symposium