HVVA NEWSLETTER, February 2006
(Click on graphics/photos for larger view)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steiner 5-bay Dutch U barn Red Hook, Dutchess County, NY (left) The original gable entrance has been boarded over. The side doors have beenreplaced with sliding doors mounted on a metal track, (right) Bents 2.and 3. of the grain end of the bam, facing front.

Tuesday, January 17 I returned to the Steiner farm to re-check measurements. An interesting feature that had been missed was that the two bays with 12-foot high anchorbeams had no upper aisle struts. The bays on the other side have double aisle struts. Single aisle struts are characteristic of early Dutch barns which normally have low verdiepingh (column above the beam) and low side walls so there is no need, in fact often no room for double struts. This feature appears later when the barns grow taller. The following features make me think this may be an 18th century barn: the grain side of the Steiner barn retains the single strut early framing style, as well as wooden hinged wagon doors, and there are a number of re used parts of earlier barns and barracks which show that it is not a first generation barn at the site.

Thursday, January 26 On a recommendation from Alice Cross, I went to see an 18th century three-aisle Dutch barn with a stone house in Kerhonkson, Town of Rochester, Ulster County,and re-registered it:

3-bay scribe-rule Dutch barn, straw mow addition and stone house ___ /McDonald/Macauley/Miller-Felicia (NY/Uls/Roc/01) Kerhonkson, Town of Rochester, Ulster County, NY N 41'46,741  W074'17,723   elevation 288-feet            

The new owners, Felicia S. Raphael & Don Miller, bought the property in April. I had measured and documented this barn
with Susanne Sahlerforthe town's Historic Preservation Commission in 1996 and published drawings, etc. in Report on Historic Barns and Timber Framing, Town of Rochester. Spillway Press, 1997. This report includes 11 Dutch barns and 9 side-entrance barns. The site is registered as #68 in the Town of Rochester's very large survey of over 300 historic properties, including 72 stone and masonry houses. The survey was begun in 1987.

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