Stone Barns of America Historic Icons East of the Mississippi

Well over 95 percent of all historic barns are made of wood. Yes, stone barns are as rare as they are unique, and they represent a page in America as yet untold. Why would a 19th-century farmer use stone, when trees were plentiful in those early years? Sawmills were nearly everywhere. And, yet, especially in southeastern Pennsylvania and adjacent states, there were numerous stone barns built in the late 1700s and 1800s. In fact, Pennsylvania’s direct tax record of 1798 listed 1,829 stone barns, about 20 percent of all barns built there. Today, thousands of stone barns still exist in this region, the motherlode of stone barns in America. Join the author as he documents stone barns east of the Mississippi River in this beautiful book. He’ll detail the barns west of the Mississippi in a future volume. Each region has colorful stories — from tales of the Revolutionary War on the east coast to basalt barns of Idaho and one in Oregon that was built for a champion stallion … one stone barn for one special horse. Read about an advertising barn in Maine, a stone barn complex built by the Vanderbilts in Vermont (now a historical landmark), one in Rhode Island that was part of a conniving slave-owning family, and another in Pennsylvania where the owner saved the Liberty Bell from advancing British troops. One farmer in Georgia built a stone barn after “night riders” burned his wooden barns down. Near Philadelphia, one courageous owner built an underground tunnel that led from the farmhouse to the barn, allowing slaves to hide out if trouble approached. He never lost one to a bounty hunter. Enjoy this story and many others centered around historic stone barns, icons of the past, but not forgotten. Read more