Field Guide To New England Barns And Farm Buildings

A generously illustrated handbook for identifying and understanding structures that symbolize the region's unique cultural and historical landscape

William Faulkner once said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Nowhere can you see the truth behind his comment more plainly than in rural New England, especially Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts. Everywhere we go in rural New England, the past surrounds us. In the woods and fields and along country roads, the traces are everywhere if we know what to look for and how to interpret what we see. A patch of neglected daylilies marks a long-abandoned homestead. A grown-over cellar hole with nearby stumps and remnants of stone wall and orchard shows us where a farm has been reclaimed by forest. And a piece of a stone dam and wooden sluice mark the site of a long-gone mill. Although slumping back into the landscape, these features speak to us if we can hear them and they can guide us to ancestral homesteads and famous sites. Lavishly illustrated with drawings and color photos. Provides the keys to interpret human artifacts in fields, woods, and roadsides and to reconstruct the past from surviving clues. Perfect to carry in a backpack or glove box. A unique and valuable resource for road trips, genealogical research, naturalists, and historians.

The first and only full-scale technical and stylistic analysis of 200 years of architectural evolution in northern New England

The heart of every working farm and ranch, the barn is an icon of rural America. This book chronicles – and celebrates – all the main types, and looks at how these treasures of early American architecture developed. It explains how a wealth of immigrant construction methods and range of environments and climates resulted in a fascinating variety of barn styles in the United States, from the earliest rare Dutch examples to simpler English types and others in more surprising shapes (round or even polygonal) crafted by the Shakers in the 1800s. It highlights the most notable, famous and historic barns that the reader can visit, and features the efforts of conservation groups to preserve America's barns and find innovative ways to repurpose these glorious old structures as homes and studios – and as living monuments of rural heritage.

Barns of New York explores and celebrates the agricultural and architectural diversity of the Empire State-from Long Island to Lake Erie, the Southern Tier to the North Country-providing a unique compendium of the vernacular architecture of rural New York. Through descriptions of the appearance and working of representative historic farm buildings, Barns of New York also serves as an authoritative reference for historic preservation efforts across the state. Cynthia G. Falk connects agricultural buildings-both extant examples and those long gone-with the products and processes they made and make possible. Great attention is paid not only to main barns but also to agricultural outbuildings such as chicken coops, smokehouses, and windmills. Falk further emphasizes the types of buildings used to support the cultivation of products specifically associated with the Empire State, including hops, apples, cheese, and maple syrup. Enhanced by more than two hundred contemporary and historic photographs and other images, this book provides historical, cultural, and economic context for understanding the rural landscape. In an appendix are lists of historic farm buildings open to the public at living history museums and historic sites. Through a greater awareness of the buildings found on farms throughout New York, readers will come away with an increased appreciation for the state's rich agricultural and architectural legacy.

From hay barns to corn cribs, from fences to chicken coops, from silos to outhouses, 'The Old Barn Book's' clear drawings, photos, maps, and descriptions make it easy to figure what's what around a farm.

The definitive guide to the Green Mountain State Christina Tree and new coauthor Rachel Carter have more lovingly than ever updated the Explorer's Guide to Vermont, especially since floods in August 2011 caused by Tropical Storm Irene devastated so many of the communities, businesses, iconic covered bridges, and scenic backroads in the state. As these towns and storefronts rebuild, so have Tree and Carter This 13th edition of Explorer’s Guide Vermont reviews hundreds of dining and lodging options from the remote reaches of the Northeast Kingdom to quaint Manchester and bustling Burlington. The authors offer great recommendations for the most rewarding spots to visit—artists’ studios, farmers’ markets, historic sites, and more—and highlight the best biking, hiking, swimming, winter sports, horseback riding, fishing, and paddling. Enjoy four seasons of events and activities; whether you’re a visitor or a resident, you’ve got to get this guide!

Guiding you to the best of everything in Vermont for over 30 years! Although Explorer’s Guide Vermont covers the entire Green Mountain State, the authors pride themselves on their detailed coverage of the state’s less-traveled areas, especially the Northeast Kingdom. You’ll also find in-depth descriptions of major Vermont destinations like Burlington, Brattleboro, Manchester, and Woodstock. They always highlight the most interesting and rewarding places to visit, whether on back roads or in bigger cities—artists’ studios, family farms, and historic sites among them. This guide provides great recommendations for every activity you’re looking for—mountain and road biking; hiking and swimming; skiing, snowshoeing, and snowboarding; horseback riding, fishing, and paddling—and many more, both on and off the beaten track.