Cheshire's Oldest Barn to be Preserved

With winter just a few days old, and no snow on the ground, the threat of collapsed buildings in Cheshire seems remote. Yet, a review of damage from last winter’s storms is a reminder of how quickly some buildings came down in a season of wet snow.

Several of the collapsed buildings were historic barns, such as one owned by Jean McKee on South Brooksvale Rd. Her barn, built in 1733, is considered the oldest barn in Cheshire, several experts said.

One of the three barns on McKee’s property collapsed on Feb 10, 2011 when the back of the barn came down. Several years before, she said, siding dropped off from an interior corner and Mckee knew it was time to shore up the nearly 300-year-old structure.

Through a grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, McKee was able to hire an architect and construction engineer to inspect the barn and suggest measures to preserve it.

The collapse of the barn last year was so extensive, McKee said, she now plans a near full restoration of the historic building this spring. During a seminar last month sponsored by the and the , McKee said the renovation would be done in a novel way.

The McKee barn will renovated and partially rebuilt with wood from an old tobacco barn that a preservationist found in Massachusetts. “We bought the old barn and we’ll put it in and shore up what’s left of the (McKee) barn,” she said.

The dismantled tobacco barn was brought to McKee’s property on a flat bed truck where the project awaits warmer weather.

“We’ll insert the ‘new’ old barn into the existing barn,” McKee said. “Out of diversity will come something much more complete.”

Plans for the restoration of the barn were approved by the Cheshire Historic District Committee that regulates changes to property within the town’s two historic districts.

Commission member Elizabeth Fox said its members volunteered last year to inventory more than 100 barns in Cheshire. The records are included in a state-wide collection sponsored by the preservation trust. Fox said about 200 barns are found in Cheshire.