Ohio Farmer

Barn Spotlight: The barn is built on a natural hill with an asymmetrical roofline as its most identifiable feature.

Pamela Whitney Gray

February 7, 2022

6 Slides

The Poorman family arrived in Perry County, Ohio, in 1808. After clearing enough land to plant and harvest their crop for the winter ahead and the following year, they erected temporary housing for animals and the family. These would have to last until the farm was established and better accommodations could be built.

In 1818, plans were made to construct what we have come to call a Sweitzer barn today. A Sweitzer barn is from Swiss cultural influence. It is built into a natural hill with a basement and a cantilevered forebay. Its most identifiable feature is its asymmetrical roofline. The ridge of the roof is centered over the foundation. One side of the roof is elongated to cover the forebay, creating its lopsided look.

Somerset limestone was quarried and laid to form the foundation in the side of a gentle hill. The stable doors in the stone wall under the forebay were made of black walnut. The openings in the stalls were framed with oak and closed with hand-riven oak bars.

Then it was off to the woods with a team of horses to scout tall oak trees for the posts, beams and smaller members of the frame. The ancient scribe rule method of construction was used to formulate the layout of the barn. Logs were hewn to 12-by-14 inches for the main posts.

With scribe rule, each joint was custom made and fitted by master craftsmen with an auger, mallet and chisels. To ensure each joint was matched up with its correct counterparts, marriage marks are used. As each bent, or unit of the frame, was completed and marked, it was dismantled and set aside.

When all bents were completed, they were reassembled and laid out in the order they would be raised in the barn. This was a huge undertaking, and all available men in the area were called on to help in the raising with pike poles.

Sometimes a gin pole and horse were used to lighten the load for the men pushing up the tremendous weight of each bent in turn. A gin pole was a tall pole with a system of ropes and pulleys, which could lift loads many times heavier than a man could.

After the frame was complete, the gable ends were laid up with somerset limestone just like the basement. To celebrate the completion of the barn, a dedication stone was carved with 1819 Sept 22 B. Poorm, with some added designs to make it fancy. It was placed high in the gable-end stone wall to be readily seen driving into the farm.

New roof

The barn was used until the 1860s when the limestone ends started to deteriorate and the 40-plus-year-old tin roof was in need of replacement. The decision was made to replace the tin roof with slate. So, the roof came off, and the stone walls were taken down to the level of the basement. This laid the wood frame bare.

They began to wonder if the old frame would be strong enough to support the much heavier slate roof. Being pragmatic, they decided to create a new frame around the outside of the old one for re-enforcement. This meant another trip to the woods to harvest timber for another frame.

When finished, the Poormans had a truly unique, one-of-a-kind double-framed barn. A niche was made in the new frame in exactly the same position where the dedication stone had rested. It is still there to this day.

After that problem was solved, the barn was sided in vertical chestnut oak, and the slate roof was installed.

The holes for the old, huge swinging wagon doors can still be seen in the original frame. The original wooden-hinged doors have since been replaced with sliding doors. There is a set of four doors, and each has a cut-out handle depicting the four stages of the moon.

The Poormans have been stewards of this amazing barn for six generations with a seventh coming on. The barn is used every day in their farming operation and received the Friends of Ohio Barns’ Barn of the Year Award in 2012 for Agricultural Use.

Gray is author of “Ohio Barns Inside and Out with the Barn Consultant.” For more information, visit barnconsultant.com or email [email protected].

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