Early in 2007 we untertook a joint venture with Jim and Cindy Parker, owners of Willow Spring Vineyards of Haverhill, MA to rebuild a barn. The barn, disassembled by the Parkers, was originally built in the late 1700’s. The Parkers salvaged a little over half of the timbers in the post and beam frame. Fire and decay rendered the other half unusable. To replace the missing timbers, the Parkers purchased and disassembled another barn. This barn, built in the 1850’s, came from Tyngsboro, MA.

We had only a minor involvement in taking down the original barn, but we saw enough to understand how challenging it would be to reconstruct the building. So, we volunteered to help put the barn back together. Home Energy, Inc. provided the foundation plan and first floor deck plan required for the building permit.

The rebuilding process began with the removal of the old fieldstone foundation and pouring of a new steel-reinforced, twelve inch thick concrete foundation with twelve foot high walls on the north and west sides. The foundation was stepped down to provide a walk-in entry on the east side and a full overhead door, which mimicked the original design, in the rear of the basement. We then stick framed the walls in the rear and built the first floor deck on which the post and beam frame would be set. This basement space will house the winemaking operations for the vineyard.

With the first floor deck overhead, providing some shelter, we began the periods of matching and repairing the post and beam timbers. The process was slowed due to the differing ages, layout, and roof construction of the two barns we needed to piece together. We decided to use four beats (cross sections) form the Haverhill barn and three beats from the Tyngsboro barn. It took us the entire summer and all fall, working weekends and during spare time, to repair the post and beam framing members.

In the spring of 2008, we began the process of raising the barn with a crew of dedicated volunteers. By late fall the entire frame was in place, new pine roof purlins and pine roof boards were in installed, and the barn was tarped for winter. In the spring of 2009, we plan to install the structural insulated panels on the roof, install roofing and installing the ??? built, prefabricated wall panels. With luck the barn will be complete in the fall of 2009.