|Don Perkins|
Don Perkins wrote a series of articles about local barns for the GNG Independent from 2007-08, which grew into a book about barns throughout the state, The Barns of Maine. Don recently did a presentation about his book at the NG Public Library. You can order Don’s book, Barns of Maine on Amazon or at local bookstores. He also offers custom report services for barn owners. Contact him at mainebarns@gmail.com. NGXchange is pleased to re-run Don’s articles about New Gloucester barns over the next few months.
FROM CHURCH TO BARN
This first article is about the barn at what was formerly known as the Chandler House. It is now owned by Daniel Casals and Sarah Sturtevant, who call it Swift Wings Farm.
This historic barn has seen many uses.
Shannon and Al Warren own Chandler House Bed & Breakfast on New Gloucester’s Intervale Road. This prominent building and the family it’s named after has quite a history. The Chandler family financed many business interests, including a lumber mill, which is how we get the name Chandler Mill Road.
The Warrens purchased the sprawling house with its 15 acres and attached barn in 2005. But if you know town history, you recognize that this barn is about 65 years older than the house. And it has not always been a barn. Long before the house was built in 1903, this 40- by 60-foot structure was a church and sat right up next to the road. This was the second Baptist church, and as the antique picture shows, the structure had a big bell tower to call folks to worship.
In 1903, Chandler came and bought the property, moved the church back from the road, built a lovely home and eventually converted the old church to a stable. But before that, from 1900-02, this “barn” served as the town’s high school while the new school (now the library) was constructed.
“The story goes that he lived in the church while he built this house,” said Al Warren. But the Warrens are relating information that’s passed through many hands; it could be folklore.
However, churches and barns do share links in architectural antiquity. In Eric Sloane’s book An Age of Barns, he writes of the old medieval English barns that were used for “storing contributions to the church.” Barley and other grain harvests helped support European churches. In fact, the word barn takes its name from the Latin words for barley and place. In essence, a barn was a place to store the barley, which is why the words barn and barley share a common spelling. Parts of farmers’ harvests were seen as a tax to support the church.
Because of thatched roofs, these old European barns had steep roof pitches and beautiful, curved, cathedral-like trusses. The arched beams were made of curved trees that were split in half, and then paired into an “A” shape. Sloane goes on to say a big reason many English settlers came to the New World was to escape taxation. As such, the early American barn builders purposely dropped the old architecture in favor of their own simpler styles.
This barn is quite solidly built and reflects the care and craftsmanship once put into an important community building. The 1839 frame is hand hewn and the roof is comprised of a major rafter minor purlin system with vertical boarding. The walls have sawn studs between each bent and are clad in horizontal boarding. It’s a massive frame of six equally spaced bents. The cross ties in the roof run the entire 40-foot width and are a hefty nine inches square.
Because it was a church and then a school, the inside of the barn, both walls and ceiling, are finished with horizontal matched boards attached with square-cut nails. At one time the interior was white-washed, and a section in the rear still is. However, a prior owner sanded off the treatment and today the boards are stained a natural color.
Despite its spiritual past, there were animals here. The loft is unfinished and displays remnants of a hayfork at the peak. Al Warren said a square opening in the second floor was used to pitch the hay down below. And as residents may remember, an antique shop opened here in the mid-‘80s
Today, the Warrens use the building for storage, but said potential uses could someday include a restaurant or even a yoga studio.
“We love it here,” said Shannon, of New Gloucester. “The community is amazing.”
