Original barn when the property was purchased back in 1965. Photo courtesy of the Ackermans.
You see them all over Pennsylvania, different styles, colors and sizes! Driftstone is no exception, showcasing 3 around the property. The first of which being at our front entrance, home of our store, office, gameroom and recreation area in the back. The second would be just down River Road on the right hand side, known as Black Barn (Hauser Barn). Our final barn is located in the west section of the property, known as Hinkle Farm Barn with silos.
Hauser Barn, west of the campground’s main entrance on River Road on the right. Photo courtesy of Melinda Koehler.
Dutch settlers were the first to raise such structures in the regions we now call New York and New Jersey, in the late 18th century. The barns were simple in design, their scale being large, few openings except for large center doors and standard size doors on the side ends that enter into the stock aisles, horizontal siding and a gable roof. As the years went on barn construction evolved, improving on functionality and overall aesthetics. While barns have certainly served as an important structure for farms and even communities for many years, if not maintained their structural integrity will eventually fail. Many barns are becoming a structure of the past, some left in sad decay, some razed, others having their lumber reused in new structures and for those still on an active farm may be replaced by a newer more advanced technological structure. A common trend of late is the re-purposing of these historical structures.
Located in the west section of the campground, this is how the Hinkle Farm Barn looked in 1979. Photo courtesy of the Ackermans.
There are many different styles of barns such as the Pennsylvania, Basement, Three-Gable, Stable, Round, Ground, Pole, Free-Stall, Gable-Front, Gable-Entry Bank, Double Decker, Appalachian Meadow, English Lake District, Hay, Sheep, Tobacco and Horse. Driftstone’s barns are all considered English style which originated in New England and New York State, the perfect structure for smaller farms. This type of barn is timber post and beam framing, is not banked (so there is no basement) and has sliding doors located on the eaves side for access. English barns are divided into three bays, running perpendicular to the roof-line, one bay for livestock, one for hay or straw and a central bay for threshing grain.
References:
http://pahistoricbarns.org/educational/
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/agriculture/field-guide/pennsylvania-barn.html