The Eastman family of Ovid, N.Y., houses its seasonal business in a barn that dates to the 1800s.

Erected by J.N. Wilson, son of one of the first four settlers in Ovid, the barn has unique design features seldom seen in barns today.

David Eastman, 80, the fifth generation on Mount View Farms, which operates The Pumpkin Stand, says his family purchased the barn and its property when he was a child because it was adjacent to his family’s homestead.

“Dad’s great-uncle wanted to tear it down,” says Ellen Eastman Smith, the sixth generation on the farm. “It can be easier to build something new, but my dad chose to put money into it and preserve it. He’s been doing it with his brother, Jack Eastman, and Bob Sibley, a family friend, over the years.”

Called the Pentz barn, parts of it date back to 1855.

“Dad remembers seeing the date carved on a board in the back of the barn,” Smith says. “He saw that as a child. It was carved on a board over the walk-in door. All the boards in the middle bay that I use for the pumpkin stand say ‘J.N. Wilson’ on them. That’s what they did at the sawmill; they’d mark the lumber with the name of the person who purchased it.”

Eastman is vice president of the Ovid Historical Society. He and Smith have determined that the barn was built and owned by Wilson, who was related to the Wilson-Dunlap group that settled in this part of Seneca County in 1794. J.N. Wilson was likely a grandson or brother of one of those early Wilsons.

J.N. Wilson raised livestock and kept his horses in the barn. The basement barn features three stories.

“The unique part is that the double floor is pinned with wooden pins underneath,” Eastman says. “They drilled a hole through both pieces of wood and through the beam. I’ve never found that in any barn. It’s mortise and tenon joinery. I did have someone stop who was a barn expert and claimed it was moved there from Pennsylvania. But people would move and then build a barn the way they knew how.”

“It’s known in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area, and the Wilsons were from that area,” Smith adds.

Closer look reveals unique features

When Eastman’s family purchased the property sometime in the 1940s, the original barn on the homestead had blown down. He recalls milking cows in the Pentz barn.

The barn’s upstairs section in the middle bay includes a workman’s bench and loft area, where stairs existed at one point. Smith says J.N. Wilson was a blacksmith, so he could have done blacksmithing in the barn.

“The newer section from 1868 has a workbench, and there was a lot of leather and hardware,” Eastman says. “There were sleighs and a one-horse cart stored there. There’s a possibility he worked on projects up there in the wintertime.”

The southern wing of the barn includes sawn lumber, which he says dates to between 1890 and 1910.

“They still used joinery in the main beams,” Eastman adds.

Another unusual feature is its overhead door, which swung up to the underside of the floor above, similar to a modern garage door.

“I’ve never seen a barn like that,” says Eastman, a self-proclaimed barn guy. “In my lifetime, I’ve never seen it open.”

Part of the reason is that a portion of the second floor was removed at some point. That allowed it to be used as a haymow all the way to the roof. Smith says it stored bales from 250 acres.

Upgrades preserve its use

A microburst blew off part of the early 1900s addition, so Eastman removed the rest of that addition to bring the barn back to its original size.

The barn is 30 feet by 80 feet, and the south wing is 25 feet by 60 feet.

“As most barns have it, it changes with the way you do farming,” Eastman says. “The basement barns are the hardest to keep.”

Moisture buildup from animals living in the basement caused problems with the stone foundation and wood. A decade ago, the family removed about 2 feet of old manure and dirt from the bottom of the barn, and put in concrete to help dry it out. They use wood from other barns, or parts of old additions, to keep it as original as possible.

Originally, the Eastmans hosted their pumpkin business on the family homestead. but they moved the operation to the Pentz barn in 2000 so more people could enjoy the history of the barn. It also had more space.

“I wanted to use it as it was iconic,” says Smith, who took over The Pumpkin Stand 10 years ago. “Everyone wanted to walk through it and how it pertained to the history of Ovid.”

The family also uses the space for storage and processing. The wash plant in the back enables them to clean up squashes, gourds and pumpkins for the public.

“My main objective now is to how to figure out how to get gutters on the barn and more concrete in the back so I can use a pallet jack out and move squash,” Smith says. “I would love to be able to let people use the downstairs part, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get to it at this generation. At my age, we’ve done leaps and bounds, and my son and daughter are interested in it. I want to hand it over to the next generation. I want to continue to replace things that need to be replaced.

“Barns tell a story of what farming once was, where it is and potentially where it’s heading,” she adds.

“It’s about the good times and bad times,” Eastman says.

“It makes me want to bring agritourism to a point where our youth can appreciate farming and also create something new with today’s technology and keep it alive,” Smith adds.

Sergeant writes from central New York.