What is a forebay?
A forebay is an artificial pool of water in front of a larger body of water. The larger body of water may be natural or man-made. Forebays have a number of functions. They are used in flood control to act as a buffer during flooding or storm surges, impounding water and releasing in a controlled way into the larger waterbody.
What is a banked barn?
These barns were banked, that is set into a hillside to ensure easy access to both the basement and the level above. Almost all Pennsylvania barns also have gable roofs.
What is a Pennsylvania barn?
A Pennsylvania barn is a type of banked barn built in the US from about 1790 to 1900. The style's most distinguishing feature is the presence of an overshoot or forebay, an area where one or more walls overshoot its foundation. These barns were banked, that is set into a hillside to ensure easy access to both the basement and the level above.
What is the purpose of a forebay on a lake?
Forebays may also be used upstream of lakes to prevent siltation. Some forebays are used simply to create a natural habitat for flora and fauna, to counterbalance the environmental impact of a dam or reservoir. Forebays vary greatly in size depending on their situation and purpose.
Why is it called a bank barn?
Bank barns are two-story structures built into a hill, or bank. This allows door accessibility on two different levels, at the top and bottom of the hill. They are sometimes also referred to as “basement barns” because of their exposed basement story, which is usually built with stone.
Why do barns in PA have an overhang?
First, it possesses a “forebay” overhang, which shields the front stable wall while providing extra space on the barn's second level. In addition, a Pennsylvania barn provides exterior banked access to its upper story, allowing farm equipment and harvested crops to be transported there.
What is an Amish bank barn?
Bank barns get their name from where they are built. Since they are constructed on the side of a hill (or bank). The advantage of a bank barn is that the landscape can be used as a ramp to easily access the second floor.
What is the purpose of a bank barn?
Bank barns are two-story barns built into the side of a hill or bank. As a result, they provide ground access to both levels. Traditionally, the lower level is used for livestock while the upper level is used for equipment and feed storage.
What is the overhang on a barn called?
Eave - The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building or the overhang at the lower edge of the roof.
What is a cantilever barn?
Cantilever barns are nineteenth-century vernacular farm structures found principally in two East Tennessee counties, Sevier and Blount. Their characteristic feature is an overhang, or cantilever, which supports a large second-story loft atop one or more log cribs on the base story.
What is a monitor barn?
A monitor barn, also called a raised center aisle or 'RCA' barn, is a traditional barn design that features a raised center section.
Why do barns have ramps?
The hillside entrance gave easy access to wagons bearing wheat or hay. (Fodder could also be dropped through openings in the floor to the stabling floor below.) The general form of the bank barn remained the same whether it was built into a hillside or not.
How fast can the Amish raise a barn?
An Amish community in Ohio raised a barn in less than 10 hours last spring in a volunteer building practice that was common in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 18th- and 19th-century rural North America, barn-raising was a thing.
Why barns are painted red?
Rust was plentiful on farms and because it killed fungi and mosses that might grow on barns, and it was very effective as a sealant. It turned the mixture red in color. When paint became more available, many people chose red paint for their barns in honor of tradition.
Why are the barns in Kentucky black?
Black barns raise the heat inside, aiding the curing of tobacco Many got their color from creosote, which repelled termites. Soon many Kentucky barns were painted black just as a fashion statement.
Which direction should a barn face?
“In warm climates, it makes sense to position the barn in area that is shaded from the southern sun to reduce heat buildup in the structure,” Anderson says. “In cold climates, orienting the longest side of the barn to the south will provide some potential for passive solar heating.”
What is a Pennsylvania bank barn?
The S tandard Pennsylvania barn is a blend of English and German barn-building traditions. As a general rule, German-influenced barns and English Lake District barns were built as two-level structures. In order to reach the upper level, they were built into a hillside; otherwise, a ramp was constructed to reach the upper level. This process resulted in the adoption of the term "Pennsylvania Bank Barn." Unlike the German barn, many barns in Central Bucks County had a closed forebay, which is a recessed stable wall under the barn superstructure rather than a projecting upper level over the barnyard.
What is a closed forebay?
Unlike the German barn, many barns in Central Bucks County had a closed forebay, which is a recessed stable wall under the barn superstructure rather than a projecting upper level over the barnyard. There is little standardization of barn typology terminology. The following terms are often used, and in some cases, are used interchangeably.
What is a haymow?
Haymow - The haymow is a part of a barn where hay is stored. Imagine that!
What is a gable roof?
Gable - A gable is the triangular portion of a wall beneath the edges of a pitched roof. They are often called A-Shaped roofs.
Is barn typology standard?
There is little standardization of barn typology terminology. The following terms are often used, and in some cases, are used interchangeably.
What is a forebay in a barn?
A forebay is a place on the barn where one or more walls overshoot the foundation. Most Pennsylvania barns have gable roofs and almost all were built into the sides of hills. This allowed the farmer to easily access the basement and the ground level of the barn.
What is a Pennsylvania barn?
A Pennsylvania barn is a barn design popular in the United States from around 1790 to 1900 . It can be easily distinguished from other barn types by a prominent forebay. A forebay is a place on the barn where one or more walls overshoot the foundation. Most Pennsylvania barns have gable roofs and almost all were built into the sides of hills. This allowed the farmer to easily access the basement and the ground level of the barn.#N#Historian Robert Ensminger has divided Pennsylvania barns into three distinct types: standard, Sweitzer, and extended Pennsylvania barns. According to Ensminger, "The standard Pennsylvania barn is the most numerous and widely distributed class of the Pennsylvania barns." He goes on to name the Sweitzer as "the original Pennsylvania barn." The extended pennsylvania was a larger version of the standard.#N#Pennsylvania barns became popular as they could be built to suit any farmer's needs. They could range from 20 feet long to over 100. They could be used to keep horses or cows, or even sheep or pigs. Animals were kept on the lower level while the upper level was used to process and store hay and grain.#N#Pennsylvania barns have stood the test of time, and many historic buildings can be found throughout America today.
What are the different types of barns in Pennsylvania?
Historian Robert Ensminger has divided Pennsylvania barns into three distinct types: standard, Sweitzer, and extended Pennsylvania barns. According to Ensminger, "The standard Pennsylvania barn is the most numerous and widely distributed class of the Pennsylvania barns.".
What is a forebay?
Forebay (reservoir) A forebay is an artificial pool of water in front of a larger body of water. The larger body of water may be natural or man-made. Forebays have a number of functions. They are used in flood control to act as a buffer during flooding or storm surges, impounding water and releasing in a controlled way into the larger waterbody.
What is the function of a forebay?
They are used in flood control to act as a buffer during flooding or storm surges, impounding water and releasing in a controlled way into the larger waterbody.
Why are forebays important?
Some forebays are used simply to create a natural habitat for flora and fauna, to counterbalance the environmental impact of a dam or reservoir. Forebays vary greatly in size depending on their situation and purpose. A forebay can also be a reservoir from which water is taken to run machinery such as turbines.
Why are sediment forebays used?
They may be used upstream of reservoirs to trap sediment and debris (sometimes called a sediment forebay) in order to keep the reservoir clean. This entails the use of a dam built upstream of the main reservoir, called a forebay dam or pre-dam. Forebays may also be used upstream of lakes to prevent siltation.
What is the forebay in a barn?
Dr. Alfred L. Shoemaker, Pennsylvania Dutch expert and editor of a book titled The Pennsylvania Barn, defined his subject as “a two-level building, with the second level (for grain and hay storage and threshing floor) projecting, usually between four to six feet, over the first level, which houses the farm animals, horses, and cows.” This projection, known as the forebay, is the distinctive feature of Pennsylvania barns.
Where are Lebanon barns?
In the Lebanon-Lancaster area, many barns have been built so that the forebay projects outward without any support below it. Forebays with support are more often found further southeast in the state; however, there are Lebanon barns with supports and even some that have fully enclosed the area below the forebay with added walls extending to the ground.
What is a Switzer barn?
The Sweitzer barn, also known as Swisser or Switzer, is marked by its asymmetrical roof, caused by the projected forebay. Extended barns are ones that have been modified and expanded beyond their initial construction.
How many subcategories of barns are there in Pennsylvania?
The website Eastern Barn Consultants notes that these subcategories themselves have multiple diagnostic divisions (Standard, for instance, has 10 subtypes, mostly differentiated by the finer details of forebay construction).
What is barn raising?
In a classic barn raising as outlined by Victor C. Dieffenbach, lumber is brought to the future site of the barn, where it is measured, cut, and squared on the ends. The main posts are erected and the beams of the second floor are laid down. Over top, the “bents” (large front-back beams) are hoisted up, creating “bays” (the spaces between the bents). The rest of the barn and roof structure was secured on this framing, and a feast or other show of appreciation was arranged for the carpenters and workers.
Why were log barns so popular?
Log barns, for instance, are typically smaller and were traditionally cheap and popular with pioneers operating small farms supported by animals and not crops. Because they were so cheap, they were incredibly popular back in their heyday of the 1700s and 1800s.
What is a Gambrel roof?
Gambrel roofs are ones that include a lower-pitched ridge at the top, resulting in a more rounded shape seen on the end.
Overview
A Pennsylvania barn is a type of banked barn built in the US from about 1790 to 1900. The style's most distinguishing feature is the presence of an overshoot or forebay, an area where one or more walls overshoot its foundation. These barns were banked, that is set into a hillside to ensure easy access to both the basement and the level above. Almost all Pennsylvania barns also have gable ro…
Standard Pennsylvania barn
"The Standard Pennsylvania barn is the most numerous and widely distributed class of the Pennsylvania barns." These were built between 1790 and 1890. The key characteristic in identifying this type is the forebay, which is built so that the gable end is symmetrical, with both front and rear walls being the same height.
Sweitzer barn
Sweitzer barns are also known as Swetzer or Swisser. The name reflects the barn's probable origin from Switzerland. The Sweitzer is the "original Pennsylvania barn"; it was originally a log crib-type barn built between 1730 and 1850. The distinguishing feature of this type of forebay barn is that the forebay projects in a way that the gable end is asymmetrical.
Extended Pennsylvania barn
As agricultural productivity increased, the Standard Pennsylvania barn was not large enough, and this third class of barn was developed first by adding on to the Standard barn. New barns were based on the Standard but with more space added to the forebay side, ramp side, or by being made taller and adding another floor (storey) level.
External links
• Photo and information about Sweitzer barns, Farm Building Guide
• Historic Barn & Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania