07/28/2021
A little bit of history....about the barn on the property
According to NH’s local barn historian, John Porter, from UNH extension, the barn was probably built in the late 1800s (1880-1910).
The large beams are smooth, indicating they had been cut with a circular saw blade at a sawmill. Otherwise the beams would have been rough looking, with chips and digs from an axe or adz used to hew them from a round log into a square beam. These barns were over-engineered with their large beams, as the large dimension timbers required less hewing or sawing, and this barn a great example of a typical barn of its day.
Mr. Porter called it a transitional building style. “Balloon” or “stick-built” construction was just beginning at this time, because with the sawmills it was easier to make small dimension lumber. So, vertical 2”x 4” pieces of lumber were starting to be used in between the large beams, which allowed for horizontal boarding, rather than the earlier vertical boarding with the large-dimension horizontal nailing girts.
The north side of the barn has no windows and this was typical. The north side would be where the hay was stored and provided insulation for the cows, which would be housed on the south side, where you would find a row of windows to let in sunlight. If you look up from the center barn floor, you can still see a hay fork. According to John Porter, it was probably a Louden Fork from Iowa, as they were popular at the time. Also, stable exit doors were often found in the corner, as it was easier to direct the cows to one side than head them to a center door because of their wide peripheral vision.
The cows would have been found in the upstairs floor of the barn in the early 1900s. Then in the 1940s – 1950s, the New Hampshire’s public health department required that milking cows be housed on a cleanable, imperious surface, and only concrete met this definition. And thus, the cows probably were moved a concrete stable in the basement at that time.
In the basement of the barn, there is a concrete floor, with a “scooped in manger” (made of concrete), where the hay was fed. A toe-hold in the concrete is also visible in the front of the stall bed. This allowed the cows to get a good grip while standing up and provided a place for some extra bedding to be piled, which could be scraped back to the rear of the cow to absorb moisture. The ceiling and walls of the stable show evidence of whitewash, which was a treatment required annually to promote a clean and sanitary environment. The stable is small, but it was modeled after many of the design features of the day.
Eight stanchions, which held the cows in place, can still be seen. There were probably a total of sixteen back in the day. The stanchions were long and narrow, allowing the cows to get up and down and turn to lick themselves. And 16 cows in the 1950s would have allowed the family to make a living.
One cow probably produced 25-40 lbs. of milk per day (nowadays, one cow produces around 100 pounds or more). So, this would have been 3-5 gallons per day per cow (one gallon is about 8.3 lbs.). Milk is sold on a hundred weight (cwt) basis and at that time it might have been $2.00/cwt. So 16 cows averaging 30 pounds of milk per day would have produced about 480 pounds per day, or 4.80 cwt, which would equal about $10 of income per day.
In the basement, there are “three over three” windows (a six pane window), typical of what you’d find in the day. They were single sash and usually tilted inward to provide some air (double sash windows were not found in the barn as the moisture and humidity would cause swelling and be difficult to open and close). Often a nail or wooden peg was inserted into the side window casing which would hold the tilted window in place.
John Porter is the author of two books, seen below and although retired, can still be heard at talks around the state, as he is sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council. John grew up on a dairy farm in Lebanon, New Hampshire and spent his career as a dairy specialist working with dairy farms, and he has over 47 years of experience helping and visiting farms all across the state! Check out the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance web site for the schedule of his barn lectures.
