The Barn That Moved from Upper Waterford: Barn Census

One of the challenges of the Waterford Barn Census has been assigning a "common name" for each property we learn about. Some have been simpler -- the Lee Farm is still known by that name and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places under the same name. There there's West View Farm, also on the Register under that name -- but better known to older residents as the Hastings place.

As I've been typing each record into the state Barn Census website (sharing information is part of the Census goal), I've named some barns with multiple family names, like the Florio-Remick-Green barn (there were two other families who owned it in the past but they are not often spoken of in terms of the property).

An especially interesting case is the Patricia Powers Barn: that's what it's mostly called now and that's how we've labeled it in the Barn Census. But it was moved from Upper Waterford, and the information about that move -- purchase of the original property from the George and Flora Wallace family, by New England Power; purchase of the barn itself by Gilbert Wright in the 1940s from the power company (which was about to flood the village in the creation of Moore Dam Reservoir); and movement of the barn to its present location beside the home of Patricia Powers -- also goes into the Census.

Here is a handwritten note from the Patricia Powers family, along with a photo of the barn. On the back of the photo is yet one more piece of information that ties the names together: Mr. Wright sold the house to the Powers family, and rebuilt the barn on their houselot while he was rebuilding the house as well, in 1949 or 1950. Many thanks to Andrew and Tanya Powers for gathering this information.

Info for those who live outside Waterford: The Moore Dam was completed in 1954.

We now have 14 barns listed for Waterford on the state website; we'll let you know when the listings become accessible to you (we hope, very soon!).

And this evening's Waterford History Group meeting (6 pm, Wed 4/24, Davies Mem. Library) will review what we've accomplished, which barns are next, and what else (!!) we're planning for this year.

Comerford Dam, A Different VIew!

All the stories of Waterford, past and present, have within them the presence of the Connecticut River along one border of the town, and with that, the changes that the two major power dams along this stretch of the river brought to the town. "Upper Waterford" is under the water behind Moore Dam; Comerford Dam, the earlier of the pair, was built in 1930-1931 with the promise of Moore Dam to follow, but the later, larger dam didn't actually arrive until 1954. Thus, older Waterford residents have memories of Moore Dam's construction and the changes it brought. Younger folks focus on the swimming access to the lake, as well as boating and fishing there.

An angle rarely seen is shown by this postcard. It dates back to the days of "amateur radio" or "ham radio," when anyone who studied for and passed the test could have a radio station in their home. Users -- called "hams" -- who contacted each other over the air waves sometimes exchanged postcards marked with their radio call signs (special combinations of numbers and letters assigned when the station was first authorized) and a note about the on-air connection. This one, from the collection of Waterford resident Dave Kanell, shows Comerford Dam -- at the time, the only dam on the Fifteen Mile Falls of the Connecticut River.

Online research easily located Alex Tremblay, the local station operator and a nearby resident.

Barn Survey Continues: Remick/Green Barns

Many thanks to Mary Florio for sharing so much information about the barns built by Lorenzo Green, eventually becoming part of the Rufus W., Harry E., and then Henry E. Remick dairy farm. A lot of the information on these barns will be in the 2013 Waterford Town Report, as part of a longer exploration of the barn survey by local historian Helen-Chantal Pike. For now, I'll just mention a small story that goes with the farm:

Teachers at the neighboring Green School (named for the Green family) usually boarded at the farmhouse. In the farm's earliest years, several of the seven Green sons married teachers because of this. Teacher spouses also abound in the Remick family, and today the farm owner has retired from the Waterford School, after a career as an actively teaching librarian. (Do you think it's something in the water? Smile.)

REMINDER: Waterford Historical Group meets on the 4th Wed. of each month, at the Davies Mem. Library, 6 pm; as I write this, that's TOMORROW. Come talk barns.

Photographing a Waterford Barn: First Try, Harder Than It Looks

This is Donna Rae Heath's barn on Walsh Road, not far from Styles Pond. I thought it would be simple to photograph -- four sides and you're done! -- but found that capturing the "look" of this friendly old structure isn't that easy. I'll be interested in seeing how the rest of the team develops this skill, as we do the Waterford Barn Census this winter and spring.

Lee Farm

The Lee Farm includes another set of Waterford, Vermont, farm structures already documented; this group was described in a 1982 National Register of Historic Places nomination written by Deborah Noble. The nomination can be found here: http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V19-3.htm

Here is the paragraph that most intrigued me in the nomination:

The large farm complex alludes in its relative grandeur to the early days of what was then known as Waterford Hollow, when that village was formerly of "considerable importance, having a church, store, hotel, oil-mills and saw mill" and when the proximity of Stiles Pond "rendered the locality a pleasant summer retreat."(8) The Stiles family, who settled nearby, were developers of the various mills at the outlet of the pond. After business passed to nearby East St. Johnsbury and Concord, the village declined until now all that is left is the nearby cemetery and several farms bypassed by the newly constructed Interstate 93.

West View Farm

As we prepare to make lists of Waterford's most intriguing barns and outbuildings this week, I'm also looking for farm structures that have already been documented. West View Farm includes a round barn that was the last design of Northeast Kingdom architect Lambert Packard, and was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. For more information, look here: http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V19-49.htm

Here is a short excerpt from the nomination report:

The most notable feature of West View Farm is its round barn. It is the last known work of the distinguished Vermont architect, Lambert Packard (1832-1908). Packard created much of Victorian St. Johnsbury, located about one mile from the farm. In addition to stately homes, his commissions included the following structures in St. Johnsbury: the Fairbanks Museum; the North Congregational Church; the former Fairbanks scale factory; the Atheneum; and the Post Office block. The homes and public buildings he designed can be found across a wide area of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Round barns are rare in Vermont, as they are elsewhere. Twenty three round (as distinct from polygonal) barns were built in Vermont - all in the northern one-third of the State. Their era ended with the start of World War One. A survey done in 1971 determined that twelve of these true round barns remained; five had not survived the preceding five years. At present there are five in Vermont.

The West View Farm round barn was built in 1903 by Fred Quimby, an East Barnet carpenter who was noted for the precision of his work in general and his silos in particular. These skills help to explain why he was able to build the first Vermont round barn in 1899. He built one other round barn which has been moved to and rebuilt at the Shelburne Museum. The West View barn is the last and largest of the three.

Barn Survey: Waterford Historical Starts New Project

At right, speaker Joshua Phillips.

Attentive audience!

Joshua Phillips brought his Vermont barn expertise to the October meeting of the Waterford Historical group, and taught about English-style barns, bank barns, roofs, why round barns were designed, and much more. Handouts on barn details and terminology and a dynamic "PowerPoint" slide show kept us all eager and the conversations afterward were full of enthusiasm.

So -- it looks like our Nov 28 meeting (at the Davies Memorial Library, 6 pm) will focus on who's going to survey which structures (or areas), and setting some priorities. Mr. Phillips suggested that November and April are the best months for taking unobstructed photos of all four sides of a barn or other farm-related building (yes, sugarhouses count!).

For copies of the handouts, look here:

http://www.uvm.edu/~barn/get_ready.html

And if you can't be at the November meeting but you're interested in working on this, or want to suggest some agricultural buildings in town, please do leave a message at the library and one of us will get back to you.

Oh yes -- why do this? Because it will help preserve our barns! The Barn Census is step one in making sure that state and private preservation groups pay attention, and direct some funds, toward the fascinating structures and history that we have right here.