October Fieldwork

We're getting to work on our Thematic Multiple Property State Register Nomination - that's the long way of saying, Todd and Charlotte are getting out in the field to "interview" and research 200 of Connecticut's significant barns which we are nominating to the State Register of Historic Places.

It's hard to choose 200 from the 8,000 that we have seen!

This is a classic 20th century dairy farm - it turns out the little 3-bay English barn was there first, and the big gambrel dairy barn was an addition following a pattern book from U Conn - the latest technology in the 1920s.

It's a gorgeous location on a ridge overlooking the Naugatuck and Little Rivers. Sad thing is, there haven't been cows here since 1984.

A Tale of Two CSAs

Local food supporters in these two Connecticut towns have started Community-Supported Agriculture projects on historic farms purchased by each town for open space.

BEFORE -

In Cheshire, the old Lassen Farm is now producing weekly supplies of vegetables for its subscribers as Boulder Knoll Community Farm. When the farming group began, the old red dairy barn stood next to the fields.

In Woodbridge, the Massaro Farm on Ford Road had a decrepit-looking green gambrel dairy barn as well as a few other outbuildings adjacent to the vegetable plots.

AFTER -

The "after" picture reflects the different fate of each barn. The refurbished Massaro Barn stands proud in its new coat of red paint. The Lassen Barn is only a memory.

Photography: T. Levine, C. Hitchcock, F. Jordan