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Blue Star Museums
OUR FARM: BUILDINGS
Farm House - Spring House - Cabin - School House - Barn

Our Barn
Our Barn then & now

The photograph on the left, taken sometime in the early 1900s shows the east wall of the barn (far left), a couple of implements and, apparently, a very comfortable farm dog! The photo on the right shows the barn as it appears today, with an equally comfortable rooster!
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History - Architecture

History:

We believe the current barn was built sometime around 1850, possibly replacing a previous barn. The Marsh family, descendants of the original farm's owners, were living on the farm when this barn was constructed. Peter Marsh, who resided on the farm from about 1850 was likely responsible for the barn's construction though it may have been built earlier. Interestingly, one of the walls in the barn carries Peter Marsh's signature written in chalk.

Quiet Valley's barn is a very typical Pennsylvania Barn form (Closed Forebay) found throughout those areas of Pennsylvania settled predominantly by those of German descent. Additions were made to the barn after its original construction which deepend the forebay and provided more storage on the main level of the barn. Barn side

The “Pennsylvania Barn” is a familiar symbol of rural Pennsylvania. This barn is a well-designed, multipurpose storage facility and workspace, which for generations was at the heart of the farm. Although it had antecedents that reached back to the Swiss Pratigau region from which many Pennsylvania German immigrants hailed, the Pennsylvania Barn is a uniquely home-grown creation, and a marvel of functional engineering. The most prominent among its distinguishing features is the projecting “forebay,” or “overshoot,” which projects over the lower-level doors. The barn was always placed with one long side built into a bank so that wagons on the bankside could enter the upper floors laden with hay, straw, or grain. The upper story was divided into mows (places where hay and grain are stored), threshing floors, and sometimes a granary. From there, workers taking advantage of gravity-power could toss feed, hay, and straw down through holes to stables on the lower floor where cattle, horses, and sheep could stay warm. To permit the circulation of fresh air and confine animal manure for efficient collection, the forebay side usually faced south and opened onto a walled yard.

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Architecture:

Like other buildings on the farm the barn's foundation, which makes up the walls of the barn's lower level, is made from locally harvested limestone. The lower level of the barn consists of stalls and mangers for livestock, and feeding alleys. The upper level of the barn consists of a central threshing floor, machinary storage and a granary.

The barn is timber-frame constructed utilizing a complicated system of cross-sectional pieces called "bents". These bents are then connected using horizontal timbers called girts and plates. Timbers are joined together using a variety of joints, including mortise-and-tenon joints, lap joints and keyed (sometimes called "dovetail") joints. These joints are then, when necessary, reinforced by pegging.

Barn timbers
This image shows the typical joinery used in Quiet Valley's barn.


 hand hewing
One of many hewn timbers in Quiet Valley's barn.

The materials used in Quiet Valley's barn are locally harvested timbers, principally oak, and have been prepared either by a process called hewing or sawing. Much of the sawing done in the early period of settlement would have used a manual saw called a pit-saw, while later construction incorporated mechanically made mill-sawn material.
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Upper BarnUpper Barn 2Upper Barn interior
Hay Mow & Threshing FloorSide of Barn
Lower BarnOvershoot & Manger
Pictures courtesy of Hamptons Locations
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347 Quiet Valley Road
Stroudsburg PA 18360
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