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Who
are The Barn People?
Photo courtesy of Vermont Historical Society
The
Barn People are a small group of Vermont craftsman who have
taken their many years as experienced
carpenters and designers and applied them to the restoration
of old barns. We have a crew out in the field that specializes
in the dismantling phase. These guys love working out in a
Vermont pasture scrambling around on some barn roof discovering
forgotten secrets, looking for clues of origin and construction.
Because the frame is modular and held together with wooden
pegs, the timbers are not destroyed during dismantling. The
wooden pegs are simply removed from the mortise and tenon
joinery after the exterior skin has been taken off and the
frame can then be taken apart piece by piece.
We
have another crew that works at our shop restoring the dismantled
frames. These guys prefer the shop environment and the woodworking
aspect of their trade. Their work reflects the meticulous
care and craftsmanship which the properly restored barn frame
demands. When it is time for the reassembly of a restored
barn frame, a combination of both crews travel to the new
site, providing knowledge of the frame and continuity. These
guys enjoy traveling around the country reassembling the restored
barn frame on distant sites. It is a very gratifying experience
to stand back and view the reassembled frame, sometimes thousands
of miles away! They love the astonishment and praise their
work invariably inspires.
We
are a small company that specializes in the professional relocation
of vintage restored barn frames and have been doing so since
1975. We have relocated hundreds since then, used and adapted
to a variety of projects including swimming pool barns, restaurants,
primary and secondary residences, artist studios, caretakers
houses, garages and workshops, great rooms, and numerous additions
all over the U.S. We have also been involved in many museum
projects for various historical societies and town municipalities
as well as the U.S. Forest Service. And oddly enough, we've
also relocated barns to be just barns!
Our
projects have been featured in dozens of newspapers such as
The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, The Miami Herald, Newsday, Los Angeles Times,
and on numerous occasions, The New York Times. We've
appeared in House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Yankee
Magazine, Detroit Monthly, Traditional Building, Town And
Country and many other magazines, periodicals and "Barn
Books". We were also featured as "House of the Year"
in the February, 1995 issue of Country Living Magazine.
A few years ago we were featured on CNN's Business Unusual.
A new barn book by David Larkin is due out this summer and
will feature many of our projects.
Architectural
Digest will also feature a Sun Valley residence we did a few
years ago and is also due out June 2003.
We
are also members of the following organizations:
The Association for Preservation
Technology International
Timber Framers Guild of North America
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The Vernacular Architecture Forum
Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities
The Dutch Barn Preservation Society
Historic Windsor
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