The Plainfield Historical Society will hold three barn-themed events on Saturday.
The day kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with a self-guided tour of 12 barns representing multiple centuries and styles. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time for $20 or $25. At 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., barn experts will hold workshops about how to evaluate and restore old barns. The day concludes with a barn dance featuring the band Sensible Shoes at Riverview Farm from 7 to 9 p.m., which costs $15 to attend. Participants can also purchase combination tickets for the dance and tour, as well as spend $10 to reserve a box lunch. More information and tickets can be found at phsnh.org.
“We have kind of different audiences,” said Jane Stephenson, president of the historical society and organizer of the day. “We have people who just love to look at old barns, people who have old barns and we hope (want) to save them. … We have a whole different group of people who are maybe just coming to the dance.”
The barn tour sprang out of an effort Stephenson and former New Hampshire Agriculture Commissioner Steve Taylor undertook a few years ago to count and document every barn in Plainfield. Currently, the count is 234. Along with the tour, an exhibit at Plainfield Town Hall will feature photographs of barns included on the list.
“We have some beautiful photos of barns and we still hope to photograph every barn in town,” Stephenson said.
Historical society members are also working on compiling information about each barn, “so that 50 years from now people can come to this historical society and find out about their barn,” he added.
Among the barns on the tour is one being restored by Kimball Union Academy called Daniel Kimball’s Sheep Barn. It was recently moved to Route 120 from the west side of KUA Hill.
“That will be interesting because it’ll be an empty space and you can just look up and see the framing structure,” Stephenson said.
Most of the barns on the tour were built in the 19th century with two in the 18th century.
“We were trying to get a cross section of early barns so there are differences,” Stephenson said. One of the 18th-century barns is on Stephenson’s property and recently had its foundation repaired.
“If you have a solid roof and you have a solid foundation, these barns are going to last for a very long time,” Stephenson said.
The barns also tell the history of agriculture in Plainfield and Northern New England as a whole from the early days of sheep farming to its switch to dairy farming.
“They evolve as agriculture has evolved,” Stephenson said.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
