To The Editor:

Next time you’re on Queen Street look past the large red barn at Patience Farm and into the field behind it. In the distance next to Old Farm Road you’ll see an old hay barn, standing straight and grey against the stark white field.

You can see right through it to the other side. That’s because it is slowly being torn apart by vandals and the elements. Some of the siding has been torn off and the cedar roof has failed, and if you were to approach it from the front you would see the sliding door has been sprayed with florescent paint.

The barn was built with post and beam framing, probably in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The large timbers are joined by a tongue on one member fitted into a slot in another, held fast with oak pegs called tree nails or trunnels. The framing is still in mostly good condition but is regularly exposed to rain and snow entering from large gaps in the cedar shake roof. The size and quality of the wood, along with good carpentry, which accounts for the straightness of the structure, has delayed its decay, but it will succumb eventually. The flooring in the loft, which catches most of the rain and snow, is in poor condition.

The barn also has a wood gutter, lightening rods and a prow under one gable to protect the hay trolley used to hoist hay up to and through the loft door. I believe that originally livestock were kept on the ground level. The concrete floor is a twentieth century addition made when the rotted sills were replaced.

At the very least the barn needs a new roof to protect what is left of the loft flooring and to prevent further damage to the framing. The barn and the land it is on are not town property, however, but are owned by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. If the state is not interested in saving it, it would have to convey the barn and land to the town, or give the town a long term lease, for the town to take over responsibility for its preservation and to qualify for a state grant to pay for repairs.

I have asked our new first selectman if the town would do something to preserve the barn and he told me he is too busy to take on another project, at least right now, and I believe him. I have also asked my representative on the legislative council, but she never got back to me.

The hay barn is more than just a building. It is a tangible reminder of our agrarian past and a touchstone for posterity. But you don’t have to be interested in history to appreciate it, which is why it’s a favorite of photographers. It’s is a fine thing to look at and a pleasure to behold.

Go take a look. Enjoy it, while you still can.

Glen Swanson

Newtown