This placement gave animals a sunny spot in which to gather during the winter. Photo: NPS files.Д«ank barns were ordinarily constructed with their long side, or axis, parallel to the hill, and on the south side of it. Where a hill was lacking, a 'bank' was often created by building up an earthen ramp to the second level.ДЄ gently sloping roadbed shows the 'bank,' from which bank barns get their name. (Fodder could also be dropped through openings in the floor to the stabling floor below.) The general form of the bank barn remained the same whether it was built into a hillside or not. The hillside entrance gave easy access to wagons bearing wheat or hay. The lower level housed animals, the upper levels served as threshing floor and storage. The bank barn gets its name from a simple but clever construction technique: the barn is built into the side of a hill, thus permitting two levels to be entered from the ground.

Yet the remaining examples of this barn type still impress with the functional simplicity of their design and the evident pride the builders took in their work. Fewer yet survive in good condition, and almost none unaltered. Most of these date from the late 18th century. The ends of cross beams projecting through the columns are often rounded to form 'tongues,' a distinctive feature found only in the Dutch barn. This interior arrangement, more than any other characteristic, links the Dutch barn with its Old World forebears. Mortised, tenoned and pegged beams are arranged in 'H'-shaped' units that recall church interiors, with columned aisles alongside a central space (here used for threshing). To many observers the heavy interior structural system is the most distinctive aspect of the Dutch barn. (3) The appearance is of massiveness and simplicity, with the result that Dutch barns seem larger than they actually are. Few openings other than doors and traditional holes for martins puncture the external walls. The siding is typically horizontal, the detailing simple. A pent roof (or pentice) over the center doors gave some slight protection from the elements. On the narrow end the Dutch barn features center doors for wagons and a door to the stock aisles on one or both of the side ends. (2) On the exterior, the most notable feature of the Dutch barn is the broad gable roof, which in early examples (now extremely rare), extended very low to the ground.ДЄ gable roof, center wagon doors with pent roof, stock door at the corners, and horizontal clapboarding are all typical features of the Dutch barn. The first great barns built in this country were those of the Dutch settlers of the Hudson, Mohawk, and Schoharie valleys in New York State and scattered sections of New Jersey.

Historic Barn Types return to top в–І Dutch Barns This Brief encourages the preservation of historic barns and other agricultural structures by encouraging their maintenance and use as agricultural buildings, and by advancing their sensitive rehabilitation for new uses when their historic use is no longer feasible. Yet historic barns can be refitted for continued use in agriculture, often at great savings over the cost of new buildings. Further threats to historic barns and other farm structures are posed by changes in farm technology, involving much larger machines and production facilities, and changes in the overall farm economy, including increasing farm size and declining rural populations. Barn raisings have given way to barn razings. In some regions, barns are dismantled for lumber, their beams sold for reuse in living rooms.

On farmland near cities, barns are often seen only in decay, as land is removed from active agricultural use. Unfortunately, historic barns are threatened by many factors. In the imagination they represent a whole way of life. Such buildings embody ethnic traditions and local customs they reflect changing farming practices and advances in building technology. Old barns, furthermore, are often community landmarks and make the past present. Just as many farmers built their barns before they built their houses, so too many farm families look to their old barns as links with their past. As the main structures of farms, barns evoke a sense of tradition and security, of closeness to the land and community with the people who built them.Д®ven today the rural barn raising presents a forceful image of community spirit. The Preservation of Historic BarnsДЇrom the days when Thomas Jefferson envisioned the new republic as a nation dependent on citizen farmers for its stability and its freedom, the family farm has been a vital image in the American consciousness.

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