One in a Million

The heat and humidity that has plagued us for the past several months has retreated.   We are still a very dry state.  Still no rain.    Trees are shedding their leaves overnight and stand naked the next day because of the drought.            In my latest travels I have seen cooler cows and unusual barns.

Here is a barn that made me pull over on the highway on RT 5 on the Bradford/Newbury VT line and grab my camera.  I have only seen one other in my entire life, as they are so rare.   What a treat this was.

Round barns were built because they were more efficient for handling livestock and feeding hay.

The Shaker community in Massachusetts pioneered the round barn design in 1826.

Round barns symbolize the culmination of efficient, laborsaving designs for dairy barns of the animal-powered era of the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries.

This particular barn is a sixteen sided barn with an octagonal moniter on the roof.

Built in 1906 it is one of only four surviving round barns in the state of Vermont.

A covered ramp leads to the top story hayloft, cows are stabled in stanchions on the middle level and manure storage is in the basement.

A great book to read about barns is:

Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings by Thomas Durant Visser.

I always expect to run into this man while I am out taking photos of barns in hard to get to places.

His book is great and I use it as a constant referance.