Aroostook County

Barns in Maine, there was a time when every family farm had one or more sitting in the center of the agricultural enterprise.

One at a time and not mass produced, the original Maine barns built for farming, not wedding events. Yesteryear small growing Maine rural communities rallied together. The local farm families stepped up to take their turn. Much like our Maine Amish communities do one day a week. Thursday is community day which means everyone pack up and meet over at this week’s location to pitch in and lend a hand. All expected to step up and come together over and over like the original farm family settlers. To systematically help create each unique hand built barns in Maine. Built to last, slowly constructed one by one using many hands. To get your very own barn building appointment meant first helping several others put together their farm barns.

Every family member with a specific role in the barn building on the Maine farm.

Large amazing spreads of local food needed to fuel the hard working hungry builders of the farm barn. Barn raisings to piece together the post and hand hewn beam behemoths took the help of many.

The big stately working barns in Maine each secured with mortised joint dowels to create the amazing structures. Slowly constructed to serve the Maine farm families for generations.

Some barn workers in charge of finding the trees, cutting them down. Others shaping the long timbers needed for the skeleton frame of the barns in Maine. Lumber of all dimensions whittled out of whatever  the team of horses twitched in from the woodlot sections of the Maine farm acreage. Still more deputized to create cedar shingles, clapboards, board and baton or whatever exterior covering to be applied to the farm barn exterior.

Scaffolding to protect the barn building workers did not remove the dangers being that high in the air performing carpentry maneuvers. You climb, you fall, you would die. That simple. I know of a local roofer who did just that from high a top a barn in Maine being shingled when a fatal accident happened. The staging plank snapped and still shudder thinking about the Maine farm barn shingle roof repair accident.

Roofing, ventilators and cupolas to bring in plenty of natural lighting and air to remove the moisture of newly mowed hayed to be stored in the barn in Maine.

Sills, rocks foundation supports to work best meant selecting a high and dry location with good soil drainage. Hemlock flooring to support the livestock, whatever to be stored in the large capacity farm barn meant another team of individuals hammered each plant in place. Finishing off the hay mow lofts, the standing and box stall pens in the inside of the Maine farm barn. Laughter, singing, hammering heard while installing windows, the weather tight trim boards.

Crafting and hanging doors on blacksmith created hinges and opening hardware another role in the barn raising.

Creating trap doors, upper openings to aid the efficiency utility of the Maine farm barn. Adding pulleys and ropes to help whatever to be stored inside the big farm barns in Maine. Dormers for ventilation and natural lighting because no power. In later years, stringing metal to connected roof top lightning rods. During approaching thunder storms, you better unplug the pasture fence charger quickly. Or you could be the lightning rod during the frantic unloading into the dry barn operation. (more…)