Category Archives: Timber Frame Projects

McKie Barn Raising & Open House

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We invite the community to join us this Thursday, December 8 for a Barn Raising and Open House from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm. Watch the crew assemble the McKie Barn, and warm up in the Reuben Wait Barn with hot cider, coffee and donuts. Those that are able are invited to join us at 7:45 am for a barn raising blessing.

About the McKie Barn and Restoration: by Luke Larson

Back in July, I was contacted about a barn on a hillside farm in Cambridge, New York. It was one of five incredible barns, all of which were in serious disrepair when new owners took over the property last year. They decided they had to focus their energy and resources on saving the other barns, and generously offered this structure to us for use at our shop location.

Sheep Barn Cambridge New York

We disassembled the barn carefully in August, labeling each beam, brace, and board.

After the take down, we spent about a month carefully restoring the frame.

Next, we needed a foundation upon which to place this barn. I was grateful that our use of this barn allowed us to match the original one. I called my friends Ethan and Jeb at Vermont Landscaping and Stonework, and they were up for the challenge!

Using stone from our shop property, they created a dry laid rock foundation, and it is beautiful.

We installed the sills during one of the first Vermont snow squalls of the season!

While the foundation was being crafted, and the barn restored and washed, we have been able to learn some details about the farm in Cambridge and the family that built the barn. Our first resource has been “The Family Letters: A Portrait of an American Family Though Letters From the 18th and 20th Century” edited by John T. B. Mudge. We are excited to dive deeper into the history.

John McKie was born in Bargaly Glen, Scotland, in 1705. At the age of sixty-two, he emigrated to America with his teenage sons and settled in the hills near Cambridge, reportedly because the hilly landscape reminded him of Scotland. James, one of his sons, joined the revolutionaries and had a daring escape from the British at Skenesboro near the south end of Lake Champlain. James was one of just thirteen soldiers left for a time to man the garrison which came under attack while reinforcements were on the way. He jumped into the Wood Creek and swam underwater to a clump of branches and ice, where he hid in the frigid water until the British withdrew.

Two year later, at the age of twenty-two, James took over management of the family farm when his father John died. We expect that it was James who oversaw the construction of the eighty foot, seven bent barn, sometime in the first decades of the 1800s.

This barn was built to house sheep, a flock which no doubt the Scottish family was well accustomed to when the wool industry boomed in the first half of that century. There were four run-in bays with low ceilings and a continuous wooden hay rack in the back. At each end, an enclosed lambing bay had wooden water troughs. We will be restoring one lambing room back as close to original as possible, complete with replicating this rotten wooden water trough.

A full second floor, held in place by an incredible five-sided ridge beam, was used to store the winter supply of hay. In the next photo, we had installed plywood over the original, somewhat rotten floor, to keep us safe while we worked.

We are thrilled and grateful to be the new caretakers for this incredible barn and to give it a new home in Middletown Springs, Vermont! The barn will be of great assistance in our restoration work of other structures, and we look forward to setting up displays of agricultural artifacts from past centuries.

If you are nearby and able, please join us in celebration of this barn raising. We will begin the day with a blessing and prayer for safety at 7:45. Watch the crew work and warm up in the Reuben Wait Barn with coffee and doughnuts. Stop in throughout the day to say hello!

Contact sara@greenmountaintimberframes.com with questions.

Green Mountain Timber Frames | 430 West Street, Middletown Springs, VT 05757 | www.greenmountaintimberframes.com/workshops-events

A Dream Complete: A New (Old) Shop for Green Mountain Timber Frames

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Greetings from Green Mountain Timber Frames!
It has been such a busy few months of barn restorations. Now, at this quiet time of year, it has been good to take some deep breaths and to reflect on a very special project and the many people whose support and help made it possible. We have wrapped up work on the restoration of the Reuben Waite barn at our very own shop location.

Back in July, we had our barn raising. You can read about the barn’s first life, and our preparations for the structure, here.

The raising was a success, thanks to our amazing team, family, and friends. The restored barn went up strong and true on the stone foundation.

That evening, we played some music in the newly erected barn.

I look forward to sharing more about the experience and process of bringing this barn from a timber frame to a fully enclosed, wired, and insulated space. But for now, I want to share some wintertime images of the structure and space.

We restored antique windows with wavy glass for this building. It was quite the undertaking- a story for another time!
The exterior door is hand planed pine, held together with forged nails saved from this barn.
One bay of the barn is a hand tool workshop. It is a joy to begin setting it up with antique tools and work benches- as well as to pull out some nearly forgotten woodworking projects from the past to be finished in this quiet space. Above the workshop is a library loft.
One corner of the barn is set up for harvesting and cooking.
Dried fruit and vegetables from our garden make a wonderful snack while making wood shavings in the work area.
The center bay of the barn will host many future crew and community meals
We love this cozy corner next to our 1914 Glenwood cookstove.
As the temperature drops, and darkness comes early this time of year, it is lovely to sit next to the stove and watch the fading light through wavy glass.
This broomcorn grew in our garden right behind the shop. We look forward to learning how to craft brooms out of it!

What is next for this barn?

I have dreamt for years of having a space dedicated to community, traditional crafting, and the teaching of hand tool woodworking. Now, that space is coming together. Already I am finding that this barn invites people to reflection and exploration.

In the months leading up to this endeavor, my children excitedly planned their first projects in the “new” workshop. I was blown away by the wisdom of my 10-year-old son when we actually picked up tools in this space for the first time. Rather than diving right into his project, Leif said “Dad, I think my first step should be to get to know the tools.” He reached for a hand plane, and my heart nearly burst with gratitude for this lesson.

What a wonderful description of the type of work and learning that I envision in the Reuben Waite barn. Using tools and resources is a practice. It is about the process of having a relationship with both the tool and the piece of wood. How very different it is to read the grain of a board, feel the plane as it slices, and to listen to the sound as a sharp edge shapes the workpiece. How very different than reaching for the closest power tool that cares not which way the tree grew. Get to know the tools first, and then make something beautiful!

I believe there is a larger metaphor in Leif’s words that can teach us about a healthy approach to living and developing “practices” rather than seeking quick accomplishments.

Right away the workbenches were occupied. Beautiful wood shavings adorn our tree, and hand shaped pine gifts are on their way to loved ones.

I look forward to a time when we can open up this maker’s, teacher’s, and learner’s space to our friends and community.

Now, as we turn a corner and the days begin to get brighter, we wish a blessing on all of you. May the next year be full to the brim of joy, music, learning, and love.

The Reuben Waite Barn – and a Dream-Comes to Life!

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We have had a very special project for Green Mountain Timber Frames in the works for over a year. Despite some delays in light of the current coronavirus outbreak, we are moving forward with raising the barn that will become our very own craftsman workshop! 

The Reuben Waite Barn

Last year, we became aware of a barn that needed saving. It was in very rough condition on the outside when we first visited it. The family that owned it had done what they could to keep it standing and shedding water, but it had no foundation to speak of, and it was beyond the possibility of being repaired in place. 

exterior of 1700 barn before restoration

As rough as it appeared, we were blown away by the beauty and craftsmanship when we stepped inside!

Discovering the Galway Barn Green Mountain Timber Frames

After I purchased the barn, my family and I began digging into the history of the barn and it’s people.

Sara

With the help of kind folks at the Galway Preservation Society as well as the resources and help from the wonderful Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa, we learned that the barn was most likely built by Reuben Waite. He and his son, whose name was also Reuben, began farming the land in the 1780s or 1790s. They are listed in early census data as being farmers, coopers, and basket makers. We found and visited the resting place of the family less than a mile from the farm and barn.

Vermont cemetary - graves of Waite family

One great gift was the opportunity to meet much of the family who had been the caretakers of the barn since the early 1900s. We were able to hear stories about growing up playing and working in the barn from the lovely 104-year-old matriarch of the family! 

Reuben Waite did beautiful work-worthy of a cooper-which is the art of making wooden buckets! Even the braces on this frame are hand hewn.

post joinery Green Mountain Timber Frames

The timber frame has an ingenious groove in the gable and eve beams, which received the beautifully chamfered siding boards. This method both ensured that water would be shed away from the building, and also reduced the number of nails needed to install the siding. This is significant because nails were hard to get or make in the 1700s.

A low percentage of the original boards were salvageable, but the ones that did survive the centuries are remarkable!

wide siding board Green Mountain Timber Frames

Last fall, the Green Mountain Timber Frames crew, with additional help from my family, dismantled the barn and brought it back to Middletown Springs. First we cleaned it out and created a safe working deck at loft height. 

Interior taking down Galway Barn Green Mountain Timber Frames

Then we removed the metal roof, the older cedar shingle roof, and the wide roof boards. Next was removing the wooden pegs that held the joinery in place for so very long. A few of the pegs gave us stubborn resistance after living so tightly in place for at least 220 years! But we eventually got them all out, and saved the pegs that survived the ordeal.

peg popping barn restoration Green Mountain Timber Frames

Restoration of the Reuben Waite Barn

Throughout this spring and summer, we have been working on the restoration of the timber frame. We washed the beams and the wide boards. 

washing roof boards from 1700 barn

Water had leaked through the roof at some point, and we had to make careful repairs to the 42-foot top plates. We made a canoe out of one section of the beam, and then glued in a new hardwood core to make it sound once more.

repair in top plate Green Mountain Timber Frames

Once repairs were made, we assembled first the 42-foot plate walls, and then the 30-foot bents on sawhorses. This allowed us to check the joinery and peg holes.

restored bent barn restoration Green Mountain Timber Frames

Now the frame is ready to be erected, and we could not be more excited!

Building a Stone Foundation 

We want the Reuben Waite barn to fit into our life aesthetic and appreciation of hand-crafted, people-powered, and communal crafting.  We also wanted to avoid making more of a longterm impact on the land than necessary, and to express our gratitude to the land for all of its gifts. In light of this, we decided to collect rocks right from our shop property and to put the barn back on a stone foundation. So, this spring we went to work collecting rocks! By the way, they are plentiful in our fields and gardens! (Rocks are one of Vermont’s best crops, a fact to which local farmers can attest.)

collecting rocks for barn foundation Green Mountain Timber Frames

Ethan Bodin is a remarkable member of our restoration crew. He is also a talented stone mason, and is part of Vermont Landscaping and Stonework. He and Jeb went to work laying out the stones to create the new foundation.

Vermont Landscaping and Stonework

They created a set of steps, as well as two traditional ramp entrances to what will be the large eve door openings. It turned out beautifully!
stone barn foundation Green Mountain Timber Frames

How Will the Reuben Waite Barn be Used?

After decades of restoring vintage barns for clients, we are now restoring this one to keep as our permanent craftsman workshop! Once closed in, the barn will serve as a space for traditional hand-tool woodworking. There will be a long L shaped workbench that incorporates a low interior beam original to the barn. There will be a loft library for our large collection of books about traditional timber framing and woodworking. The barn will house our collection of vintage tools, and we can’t wait to see family, friends, and community members using the space to explore some of the old and wise ways.  

And music. Of course there will be lots of music played in this space!

I am convinced that it is the history of this barn, starting with the old-growth trees from which it was crafted, and continuing through all the generations of people that have lived and worked inside it, that will lend grace and beauty to the space. I am so grateful and excited to see this dream coming to fruition, and I look forward to sharing photos from the barn raising very soon.

What do you give someone on his 227th birthday??

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It was “raising day” for a beautiful little corn barn that Jonathan Atwater built almost 200 years ago! On his 227th birthday, the Green Mountain Timber Frames team was putting the original roof boards back on the restored frame.

1790s timber frame barn restored in Vermont

The day was sunny but cold, and as my family took our normal morning walk to school, we took a detour through the town cemetery. We were there to pay our respects and visit the grave of Jonathan Atwater, born on February 8, 1793.

grave of Jonathan Atwater here in Middletown Springs VT

Exploring the History of this Wonderful Timber Frame 

We are very fortunate that the history of our very own Middletown Springs is recorded in a series of lectures that were delivered by Barnes Frisbie, a resident of the nearby town, Poultney Vermont. The lectures were given in 1867. What a treasure of a book, and a true gift to those of us here that seek to find the human and architectural stories in our history!

History related to the Atwater Corn House green mountain timber frames

I can’t help but share the story that Frisbie told in 1867 about the clearing of the land where the barn was built, which was accomplished by a character named Azor Perry: “In the spring of 1778 he (Mr. Perry) shouldered his ax, all he had to bring but the clothes he wore, and took possession of the land. It was the same piece of land long known as the Azor Perry farm, and now owned and occupied by Jonathan Atwater.”

Frisbie tells further of Azor’s clearing of the land and his construction of a simple cabin, which he covered with wooden poles and bark. He made himself a bedstead of poles and elm bark. He managed to get a cow the first summer, “which he wintered on brows; that is, he cut down trees and the cow ate the tops.” Imagine the hardship and fortitude needed to fashion a house and fields with just an axe!

Azor Perry had eleven children, and one of his daughters married a man named Jonathan Atwater. Together they developed the land further, building a corn barn and a cider press. The corn barn is mentioned in the fabulous 1867 book as being located “between the Atwater house and cider mill.” Both of these other buildings were already gone when we became involved, but the old stone foundations can still be seen.

The corn barn fell on hard times in recent decades, due to neglect and a leaky roof. Green Mountain Timber Frames purchased the structure, disassembled it, and restored it. That brings us back to the present day. Thanks to some wonderful folks who partnered with us to put the frame back up, it is now standing strong and tall once more.

Atwater frame erected green mountain timber frames

How did we put a timber frame up in the middle of winter?

The Vermont weather had been a pretty chilly setting. Speaking of setting, we used a foundation system that was new to us, and that worked out really well. Our clients felt strongly that they did not want to disturb the ground or surrounding trees more than necessary.  The solution was to put the frame on metal piers instead of digging a big hole for concrete. We were fortunate to find just the guy for the job! Meet Zach Laporte.

technopost installation green mountain timber frames barn home

We had kept hay bales on each of the point load points for the building in order to keep frost from getting too deep into the ground. After we marked each post location, Zach installed the eighteen metal posts. The “helical piles” have an auger profile on the base, and are literally screwed into the ground. Zach watched the hydraulic gauges as the posts went in, which is a way to measure the weight that the pile will sustain based on the soil type and density. One of my favorite features was getting all of the post tops on a perfectly level plane. Zach and I used a transit to mark the posts once the bases were sunk below the frost line, and then Zach cut each one off. A metal bracket was installed to anchor our timber sills, and we were ready for a raising!

cutting top of technopost green mountain timber frames barn home

Thanks to this foundation system, we were able to tuck the frame in between some beautiful old trees without damaging them.

Raising day for the Atwater Corn Barn

The weather was beautiful on the appointed day, and we started the barn raising at 11:00 AM when our clients arrived.

raising morning atwater frame green mountain timber frames

It was crisp, and we had one small dilemma: the sill mortises had some ice in there where we needed to set the post bottoms. Thankfully, Andy had brought his hairdryer to work with him! It worked great.

melting ice in mortise green mountain timber frames

It was a treat to this entire barn raising without a machine! This was a good old fashioned “1,2,3,  Hoist!” type of day.

raising a bent atwater green mountain timber frames

By evening we had the main frame up and had started the rafters.

putting up rafters atwater barn green mountain timber frames

Day two started with shoveling some wet snow and then working through a freezing drizzle, but we still managed to get the eve addition up, and most of the rafters installed.

evergreen on atwater frame green mountain timber frames

In order to provide more space in the barn for a small bath, kitchen, and sitting area, we had used vintage materials from our inventory to add an eve addition. I especially love how the addition rafters look.

Atwater barn home addition rafters green mountain timber frames

Over the next few days, we installed the original roof boards and vintage siding that will be the interior show surface.

installing roof boards atwater barn home green mountain timber frames

installing boards atwater barn green mountain timber frames

Now, a local contractor is hard at work building an insulated stud wall and a rafter system around the frame. The barn home will have a partial loft for sleeping, and an open floor plan for most of the space.

interior of Atwater barn home green mountain timber frames

I can’t wait to see it with windows and doors looking out at the pond below! It has truly been a privilege to play a role in giving this barn another life.
interior of atwater main frame green mountain timber frames

Wishing all of our friends and fans good health in these challenging times.

The Green Mountain Timber Frames team

Solstice: A Time for Reflection and Preparation

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As we arrive at the darkest time of the year, and as the temperatures here in the Vermont hills have begun to dip below zero, our team has had the opportunity to slow down, rest a bit, and reflect. It has been a year very full of restoring timer frames, and especially after back to back barn raisings in Virginia and Georgia, we were ready for a break.

So, what was an appropriate way to spend these past couple of weeks as the darkness encroached and the thermometer went low?

One of the ways that we have caught up, both pragmatically and spiritually, was to give some attention to our arsenal of hand tools.

antique hand tools at the green mountain timber frames office

At Green Mountain Timber Frames, we carry on the long tradition of hand-cut joinery, and we treasure our collection of tools that were designed to work in unison with, and be powered by, human hands. We use these tools constantly in a work restoring barns, and it is important that they be maintained.

Just like the vintage timber frame barns that we restore, these tools hold tales of their own. I am convinced that they have a “memory” in them of all the past generations of hands that have wielded and used them to craft joinery. I am further convinced that this history embedded in the tools helps us in our craft. I will return to this thought in a few minutes.

Tales Told Through Axes, Adzes and Chisels

First, let me tell you about some of the tools we have tuned up in the past couple of weeks:

In cleaning the metal of a set of mortising chisels, I discovered a clue to one past owner. Cleanly stamped in the blade of the chisels are the initials “AEW.” I would love to find out who this was who used these beautiful hand made chisels.

detail of vintage mortising chisels hand stamped

I also cleaned the metal and sharpened the edge on this gorgeous old “slick.” The 3-inch wide edge on this chisel glides across a tenon with a beautiful momentum when we use it to shape a wooden joint.

timber framing slick chisel

In organizing our tools, we pulled out some of our axe and adze collection.

hewing axe and adze collection

Last week, I took time to carve a new oak handle for my favorite broad axe. The head on this tool dates back to the 1700s, and it is a joy to swing. I have spent many quality hours and days with this axe, walking into the woods with it and an adze over one shoulder, and a jug of water carried in the other hand, each blade carefully wrapped in oiled leather to protect the sharp edges.

My time carving a new handle was meditative as I reflected on the work it has done for 200 years, as well as remembering the sweet music it makes when biting and shaping a tree into a beam. Now, in the coming year that is nearly upon us, I can once more walk out into the woods with this old friend, find a tree to hew, and we will make music together.

Another one of our team members, Isaac, recently cleaned an old axe head that we found in the dirt floor of a barn that we were taking down. When he showed it to me, it looked to my eyes like nothing more than a giant lump of corrosion. Being a metal worker, Isaac saw something I did not. After grinding and sanding away many decades worth of rust and putting on a new handle, this tool is beautiful! Now that it is back in use, I can’t help wondering who’s hands last swung it before Isaac’s, and how long ago.

antique felling axe owned by green mountain timber frames

Meanwhile, our staff member Andy spent time cleaning up some rusted old strap hinges that we have gathered from various barns. He used a bath of vinegar and baking soda to eat away the rust, followed by wire brushing and a quick bake in the oven to stop the corrosion process.

antique strap hinge

Here is a closeup of the clean hand-wrought metal:

antique strap hinge cleaned by green mountain timber frames

Uniquely American Framing Squares

There is another beautiful antique that we use nearly every day, and it received some attention last week. I recently learned that 16-inch by 24 inch framing squares are a uniquely American tool. While there were similar tools used in Europe previously, they really gained momentum here with the advent of what in framing lingo is called “square rule” joinery. In fact, the first patent for this type of square was awarded to Silas Hawes in Shaftesbury, Vermont in 1817. That is not far from our shop location!

We use the framing square to lay out the lines for every joint that we make, from post top tenons to girt mortises. The beautiful old square that I just cleaned with oil and a Brillo pad was a yard sale find. It is made with such care! The metal is thickest at the 90-degree angle, and then tapers down towards the edges in order to make it both strong and light. The numbers are stamped into the metal, and there are tables and graphs to help a framer do the geometry related to various roof pitch angles. It cleaned up beautifully!

antique framing square green mountain timber frames

Taking time to clean and sharpen our hand tools has felt like exactly the right way to enter into a space for reflection at this turning point from darkness to light- to look back at our own year and the much longer lifespan of these tools, and to look forward at increasing daylight and exciting projects and endeavors to come.

Honoring the Craftpeople Who Inspire Our Work

Remember how I mentioned that I believe the stories of past craftspeople who have used these hand tools help us do our work better? Perhaps there is some mystical connection that I feel to the folks who have used these tools on so many different projects. That may be, but I am more certain of the fact that the care that has been given to these tools over the decades and even centuries inspires us to work to a higher level when using them today.

I have gone through many modern electric tools in my own career to date, but I am still using some of the same hand tools that were gifted to me by my grandfather. This speaks partly to the quality of the old ways, and partly to my own mentality. It is easy to throw away a cheap electric tool and reach for another, while I expect and plan on setting time aside to sharpen or tune-up a hand tool.

Like our own human selves, these old tools need time for care, for sharpening, and for new handles. I believe there is a metaphor hiding there for us all to consider- especially at this time of year when the light is low, and activities in Vermont are best conducted in front of an old-fashioned wood stove.

A Holiday Blessing

I want to share with you a very special blessing that was spoken to our team last year at the holiday season. It was written by our dear friend and wise woman, Leslie.

“For those who work with their hands:

May your palms stay open with fingers nimble and skin supple, allowing you to feel the roughness of the wood, the smoothness of the clay, the pulling of the yarn, or the stretch of the fabric. 

May you see the wholeness in the piece as you begin, and as the shape of your work takes form, may you allow for the changes and the imperfections to be part of the beauty of your handwork.”

-Written by Leslie Silver, Middletown Springs, Vermont

coffin plane green green mountain timber frames

Dear friends, as you take time to reflect and celebrate during this holiday season, may the light of your unique gifts and talents increase in brightness.

 

Tales from the Atwater Corn Barn

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“Mr. Perry procured a deed of one of the original proprietors of the town of Tinmouth in 1777 of a large piece of land, then in that town, now Middletown.” So begins the story of one of our most magnificent barn frames for sale.

1790s timber frame barn restored in Vermont

How do we know this?
Because this history of our very own Middletown Springs is recorded in a series of lectures that were delivered by Barnes Frisbie, a resident of the nearby town, Poultney Vermont. The lectures were given in 1867. What a treasure of a book, and a true gift to those of us here that seek to find the human and architectural stories in our history!

History related to the Atwater Corn House green mountain timber frames

Frisbie continues the tale: “In the spring of 1778 he (Mr. Perry) shouldered his ax, all he had to bring but the clothes he wore, and took possession of the land. It was the same piece of land long known as the Azor Perry farm, and now owned and occupied by Jonathan Atwater.”

Frisbie tells further of Azor’s clearing of the land and his construction of a simple cabin, which he covered with wooden poles and bark. He made himself a bedstead of poles and elm bark. He managed to get a cow the first summer, “which he wintered on brows; that is, he cut down trees and the cow ate the tops.” Imagine the hardship and fortitude needed to fashion a house and fields with just an axe!

In 1779, Perry was married in Bennington, Vermont. In the book from 1867, we are told that, “He had managed, in the year before he was married, to save enough to get a calico wedding dress for his wife, and some few indispensable articles of household furniture to commence with.”

Azor Perry was apparently a renowned and fearless hunter. There are stories told—no doubt growing with each telling around the tavern table not far from his homestead—of his bold encounters with bears. In one of these tales, Perry was called on by his neighbors to help with a particularly troublesome bear that was killing sheep and hogs, and damaging the crops on West Street. A great deal of effort had been made to kill this bear, but the creature had alluded all attempts thus far. The neighbors decided to enlist the help of Azor Perry, and he agreed.

After asking for the help of one other man, Perry headed into the corn field while a small crowd watched at a distance. He told his companion to go closer to the bear, shoot at it, and then run back. “If you kill it, very well. If not, he will be after you. Run behind me—I will stand here.”

Indeed, the bear was wounded, and in a rage, it ran at Perry. The story goes that Azor cooly stood his ground until the bear was just twenty yards away, and then fired. The flintlock gun misfired! Again and again, Perry snapped the trigger as the bear advanced, finally getting the gun to fire just as the bear reached him. As told in the 1867 lecture, “In this affair, he did not appear to manifest any fear or any other feelings except that we was vexed at his gun.” This incident happened on the Buxton Farm, which is just across the brook from our Green Mountain Timber Frames shop.

Azor Perry had eleven children, and one of his daughters married a man named Jonathan Atwater. Together they developed the land further, building a corn barn and a cider press. The corn barn is mentioned in the fabulous 1867 book as being located between the Atwater house and cider mill.

The corn barn fell on hard times in recent decades, due to neglect and a leaky roof. Green Mountain Timber Frames purchased the structure, disassembled it, and we are now delighted to have the restored frame standing at our shop property.

Here is a photo of the frame when it was being disassembled at its original location:

Atwater Corn House interior view green mountain timber frames

It sat on stone piers high above the ground. This was because corn and grain were stored inside, and the elevation helped to keep rodents at bay. Extra support beams were added along the eve walls where vertical bins held the weighty corn as it dried.

Reerecting the Atwater Timber Frame

We re-erected the frame this summer. We started setting the sills for the barn at 6:30 in the morning, and had the main cube of the frame up by lunchtime.

Here is a photo of the barn’s most recent raising day:

historic barn raising in Vermont

We set the timber-framed deck on temporary wooden piers and leveled it.

Then the bents were raised one by one, and the top plates and braces installed at the eve:

Green Mountain Timber Frames crew raising bents

Rafters were put in place, and we could really see this structure taking shape again.

We have put a roof on the Atwater Corn Barn, and applied siding. It is a beautiful space!

restored historic barn for sale by Green Mountain Timber Frames

The barn was originally used to store and dry corn on the cob, and it also had one bay dedicated to living space- presumably for seasonal farm help. I envision the future use of this barn to be a cabin, a space for writing or art, or as a traditional farm outbuilding once more.

I hope that we have done honor to the courage and fortitude of Azor Perry and his son-in-law Jonathan Atwater with our restoration of this barn. I recently visited the grave of Jonathan Atwater here in our cemetery.

grave of Jonathan Atwater here in Middletown Springs VT

This barn is for sale! 

You can see more photos of the 18×30 barn as well as drawings of the space here.

Please let us know if you are interested in the Atwater Corn Crib or another one of our historic barns.

– Luke and the Green Mountain Timber Frames team

tel:1-802-774-8972
luke@GreenMountainTimberFrames.com

 

 

 

Dismantling Old Barns on Daniels Farm: The Story Continues

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Recently, we wrote about our crew’s journey to Vermont’s North East Kingdom, where we disassembled 4 old barns from the Daniels’ Farm. In this sequel, I’ll explain how we removed the siding from the timber frame structures, show images of the beautiful marks we found on the wood, and share some details about the history of the area. 

How We Removed the Siding from the Gunstock Frame

After we disassembled the 26×50 cow barn, we moved on to the large gem of a barn in this Waterford “family.” It is a magnificent 32×42 foot timber frame that we will be restoring and relocating.

We started by removing the incredible wide siding boards. We labeled each one so that it can be returned to its rightful spot once we find a new home for this frame. The original boards on this frame are water sawn, and oh-so-nice.

wide siding board on gunstock barn home

Witch Hexes and Daisywheels

We made a great discovery on one of the corner boards. When we removed it, we found that a witch hex had been inscribed on the board and then hidden where the board was on the post.

witch mark on gunstock barn restored by green mountain timber frames

The story goes that this hex was meant to ward off evil spirits. We have been coming across this daisywheel mark quite often lately, but it is usually placed carefully over a doorway or in the center of a roof system. I am so curious why it was hidden away in this case! Was there disagreement among the crew and the property owner about the appropriateness of the mark when the barn was being built? Was it hidden on purpose? We will never know.

How We Dismantled the Old Barn

We began building our work deck high up in this barn. We build a continuous platform with planks, plywood, and supporting studs so that we can safely work up inside the rafters. While doing so, we finally got close enough to this board that I had been eyeing from the ground floor:

replacement roof board in 1869 barn home

It is a replacement roof board, as we can tell by the circular saw blade. (You can see an original just below it with vertical saw marks.) This is an important clue as to the age of the barn. If we are reading this date correctly, it means that roof boards were replaced in 1867, indicating that at least one generation of cedar shake roofing had deteriorated by that date, and probably deteriorated badly as indicated by the need to replace some of the boards. Cedar shakes on a barn with good air circulation will last 30 to 50 years. This clue seems to confirm our current working theory that the barn was crafted sometime around 1820.

We also found this antique graffiti on a wallboard:

graffiti or initials in gunstock barn restored by green mountain

Perhaps we will be able to figure out who W.H. was, and what part he played in this barn’s story.

It was very exciting to reveal in greater light the beautiful and sound structure of this barn. The corner post in the next photo measures 15-inches wide at the top. The hand-hewn braces create such an engaging aesthetic.

waterford gunstock frame_historic old barn

The barn came with a beautiful horse-drawn dump wagon in it. This buggy is tired, but we look forward to restoring it for display purposes once we get it back to our shop. I love the color!

horse drawn dump wagon in restored barn frame

Making New Friends in the North East Kingdom

While in the area, I had the great opportunity to attend a meeting of the Waterford Historical Society. It was delightful to meet other folks who care deeply about the embedded history of our places and architecture.

This particular meeting was held in a structure that started out as a tavern and inn around 1820, the same time that our gunstock frame was built just a couple miles away.

In the 1880s, a large brick addition was added to expand the living quarters. The property has recently come under new ownership after some time of neglect, and it was exciting to hear about the planned repairs and refurbishing that the space will have coming. What a joy it was to tour this building!

historic waterford home in north east kingdom

Want to know more about these barns?

The GMTF crew dismantled 4 historic barns up in the North East Kingdom and several of them are for sale. For more details, contact us:

Email: luke@GreenMountainTimberFrames.com
Tel: 802.774.8972

Barn Raising and Open House this Friday!

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It has been a busy start to the summer at Green Mountain Timber Frames! After several weeks of traveling, we are excited to be spending this week at our home base in Middletown Springs erecting two gorgeous vintage barns on the property.
The larger of the barns is a gunstock two story timber frame that dates from the 1790s. The beach posts are beautiful! We set the sills yesterday in the meadow behind our shop.
preparing 1790s timber frame for barn raising in Vermont
This frame will eventually go down to be raised on permanent sills on Long Island once our client has the proper building permits and the site work completed. We are excited to get to enjoy it here in Vermont for a while!
Here is one of the assembled bents- ready to be hoisted!
gable wall from timber frame barn - 16th century
The second frame that is being erected today is the Atwater Corn House. It came from Middletown Springs originally, and we have found some fantastic history on the barn from a book published in 1867. Here is the barn as it stood on its original stone piers:
1790s timber frame barn restored in Vermont
This morning we set the original timber-framed deck up next to our shop.
preparing for barn raising of restored vermont farm house
The bents are assembled, and the frame will be standing by the end of today (Thursday).
raising reclaimed wood from timber frame barn home in Vermont
Read a bit more about this barn for sale!
Timber frame construction has always been about community- friends and neighbors coming together to help one another put up houses and barns. We want to honor that tradition. Please join us for a celebratory open house on Friday, July 12, 5 – 8PM at 430 West Street, Middletown Springs. We will be grilling; bring a dish to share, your beverage of choice, and an instrument to play.
We had so much fun celebrating the last timber frame raising at our shop, and we are looking forward to this celebration as well! We hope to see you there.

1790s timber frame barn and Green Mountain TImber Frames crew

Saving the Barns of Daniels’ Farm: A Journey to the Northeast Kingdom

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waterford gunstock frame_historic old barn

The Green Mountain Timber Frames crew has just returned from week three in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We are continuing to disassemble 4 old barns on a historic farm. While this past week was not as dramatic as the take-down of the corn crib that was featured in our last blog, we did make incredible progress as well as some discoveries. We even made some new friends in the area.

Removing the siding and roof from a 26×50 barn

One of the largest barns on the property was once a magnificent cow barn. Unfortunately, the posts have rotted to the point that we cannot restore this barn. It is rare for us to turn down a “save and restore” opportunity but in this case, the choice became very clear as we removed the siding and discovered vast rot in the posts.

Here is what we discovered underneath the vertical siding boards:

wood shaving insulation on historic barn

The walls had been packed tight with wood shavings and sawdust. The Daniels Farm, where this barn resides, had a sawmill on the premises at one point in its history. It must have seemed like a good idea to use the shavings for insulation. However, the end result was that the sawdust held moisture and rotted the frame.

Cows living on the inside of the barn created a lot of moisture through their living and breathing. In the cold weather, this warm humid air moved through air gaps in the shavings, hit the cold exterior boards of the barn, and condensed into water. The sawdust acted to hold this moisture.

A sawmill turned…apple-crusher

An interesting fact we learned about the Daniels’ sawmill was that when it came to be apple picking season each year, the workings of the sawmill were converted to power a giant apple crusher. Apparently, the Daniels and their neighbors made a great deal of apple cider when they weren’t busy making sawdust!

Surprise friends at the Daniels’ fawmill

Early in the week, we met some residents of this barn while removing the siding. And oh my goodness, it was cuteness overload!

baby raccoons hiding in historic Vermont old barn

We built a ramp down from the wall cavity where this family of 3 baby raccoons was living and then left the area alone for the rest of the day. I was so worried that we had scared the mother away.  However, at the end of the day as we were getting into the truck to leave, Andy looked back at the barns. To our surprise and relief, we could see the profile of the mother raccoon perched in the peak of the barn. She had never left at all! Thankfully, we saw little footprints at the bottom of the ramp we had built when we returned in the morning. Mother had led them out to a new home.

While this barn is not restorable, it is certainly salvageable. We will use the roof boards, the siding, and many of the sound beams on future restoration projects. We will even use the nails and the metal roofing.

Speaking of roofing…it was quite a project to remove it all on a hot afternoon!

removing metal from roof of waterford barn

Next, we removed the roof boards. They have beautiful patina and will be a perfect match for replacing some of the boards on the other barns on the property that we will be restoring.

GMTF team removing roof boards waterford old barn

Next, we lowered the rafters to the deck.

Green Mountain Timber Frames crew removing half-round rafters

We wrapped up our work on this barn by popping the pegs out of the sound braces and timbers. When we bring in a machine in a couple of weeks, we will be able to hoist the heavy beams safely down to the ground.

We came across an incredible piece of nail artwork while we were pulling the rafter tips apart. Cut nails were used, and some of them were made from fairly soft steel. Isaac discovered this incredible shape:

curled cut nail art_antique nail from historic Vermont barn

The nail had split apart lengthwise as it was hammered into the rafter. One piece of the nail went straight in, and the other curled up to form this beautiful profile!

This unique nail was one of many thousand nails that we have pulled over the past weeks. They range from large to small, and from hand forged to machine-made square nails. While pulling and de-nailing boards, we keep two five gallon buckets on hand: one for the nails that we can re-use, and one for the bad nails and other scraps of metal that we can recycle. We filled many buckets this past week!

buckets of salvaged nails from timber frame projects

We will soak the nails that are in good shape in vinegar, which will loosen the corrosion. A quick cleaning after that, and these old nails will be as good as new.

At GTMF, we are dedicated to preserving the historic architecture of New England. We restore old barns and build timber frame homes. Using nails like these and the wood beams salvaged from barns like the ones on the Daniels’ Farm, we are able to create historic homes built to last for centuries to come.

If you’re interested in learning more about our work, building a timber frame barn or owning your own barn home, contact us.

Disassembling the Waterford Corn Crib

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waterford corn crib barn cabin green mountain timber frames

Last week we began to disassemble the first of four barns that we will be removing from a property in Waterford, Vermont. All have fallen into disrepair, and the property owners have chosen to see us remove and save the old barns rather than have them deteriorate further.

Below is a beautiful photo taken in the late 1800s in front of the group of barns on the historic Daniels Farm:

Daniels Farm family and barn circa 1898

How I would love to know the occasion that led to this photo being taken!

The farm was once a thriving scene, with over 1500 acres in agriculture. Removing this many barns far from our home base is quite an undertaking, so we decided to start with the smallest of the structures.

You can see our early 1800s corn crib in the far left of the next photo, nestled in back of the two larger barns:

Carriage Barn photo from 19th Century Vermont

This fantastic timber frame structure was originally built to dry and store the corn that was grown on the property. Our first clue to this early history was the classic corn crib siding- narrow vertical strips that have gaps between them in order to allow ventilation for the corn stored within.

In the next photo, you can see one of the corners of the building with the siding still in tact.

corn crib siding on the Waterford Corn Crib Green Mountain Timber Frames

We received affirmation of the original purpose for this barn when we looked up at the roof trim. Do you see it?

corn cobs showing through the soffet trim on vintage corn crib green mountain timber frames

Over the frame’s early years, critters were enjoying the nicely dried corn on the cob. It was probably raccoons that dragged corn up into the eves of the building for their evening meal. I am sure they were very grateful for all that good ventilation to keep their corn dry!

Removing the Roof Boards from the Barn Frame

Once we had the barn cleaned out, we began to remove the roof boards, labeling each one so that it can go back to its original home on the hand hewn rafters.

roof boards stripped from 1:2 waterford corn crib

We also labeled all the beautiful siding boards. As is common with many of the old barns that we restore, some of the boards were replaced about one hundred years ago. We were noticing the uniquely strong circle saw marks on these boards when an older neighbor stopped in to chat.

He explained that there was an early water saw just down the hill, and that he had dug up old wooden water pipes in his field that had channeled water to the sawmill. It was so wonderful to hear some of the local knowledge about the story of this farm and the barn!

waterford corn crib gable siding removed green mountain timber frames

Once the roof boards, rafters, and siding had been removed, we set to work popping out the ash pegs that have held the joinery in place for so many decades.

popping the pegs on the Waterford corn crib vintage frame

Here is a view of how tightly the trees have grown up around the unused structure:

waterford corn crib tucked into the woods - green mountain timber frames

Due to disuse, wet ground, and trees growing so close to the barn, the sills have almost disappeared into the ground. We will have some work to do in repairing these post bottoms, but it will be well worth it to give this gem another life-span.

Carpenter Ants Leave Their Mark on the Frame

We received a surprise when we exposed one of the post top tenons. In the first of the photos below, you can see the incredible sculpture that carpenter ants created, much to my chagrin! They have chewed away all but the thinnest of strips- just enough to not collapse their own home. This post will be replaced from our inventory of hand hewn timbers. The second photo shows one of the healthy tenons in the barn. Now that is how a two hundred year old tenon should look!

In the next photo, we are lifting the top plate off of the posts.

removing the top plate on the Waterford corn crib green mountain timber frames

When we return next week, we will lower the bents to the ground, label the posts and ties, and finish cleaning up the site.

This Old Barn Is for Sale!

This 16×20 corn crib, with its full second floor, will make an incredible little cabin or garden shed once we have restored the timbers.

Aside from wanting to start our large project in Waterford with the most manageable of the four barns, there was another important reason to delay the disassembly of the largest- a 32×42 gunstock timber frame. There is a family of Eastern Phoebes nesting under the eve. We learned that, incredibly, it takes only 16 days from when a Phoebe egg hatches till the birds will take flight from the nest! We will make sure they have flown before we begin disassembly of this magnificent barn.

When I stepped into the gunstock barn on Friday, I realized that the phoebes were not our only winged friends making use of the space. This little fellow had flown down from a nest and was taking a rest on a beautiful antique bow saw.

robin fledgling on bow saw in waterford gunstock frame green mountain timber frames

It seems the family of robins is already on the move! Stay tuned for more information on this large gunstock barn that has been home and habitat to so many over the last two hundred years- from farmers to pheobes.

robin fledgling in the Waterford gunstock frame green mountain timber frames

Do you dream of living (or working) in an old barn?

Contact Us!