Rotary Log for July 14, 2022
President-elect (or President Wannabee as she calls herself) Yvonne Legge convened the meeting. Yvonne was filling in while President Joanie was out of town. Yvonne promptly teased Past President Justin Finn for enjoying his lunch in peace.
We had a few guests and lighter attendance than usual. Priscilla MacInnis welcomed Kristen Peterson of First Seacoast Bank.
Past President James Petersen introduced his old college buddy Dan Carr who was visiting from Houston, Texas. His table mates tried hard to extract some embarrassing stories out of Dan. It would be hard to imagine more embarrassing stories than James is already willing to share but if they exist a Comedy Central gig is warranted.
I invited my parents Roger and Anita Aubin, visiting from Bedford, N.H. Wanted them to hear John Porter speak about preserving old New Hampshire barns. John’s wife Sue was also a guest.
Cathy Nickerson gave us valuable information about the Greater Seacoast United Way. They have now joined the Granite United Way and moved to new offices on Pease along Corporate Drive. The Granite United Way has raised $787,000 for Ukraine relief. The monies will be sent to the Rotary Club of Poland in a coordinated effort to provide blood, food, and assistance to refugees.
The Rotary Club of Plymouth, Mass., is holding a fundraiser at the Fisher Cats on August 3rd. The team will donate 50% of the ticket price and Alex Ray will match the other 50%. If you would like to participate, simply go online, and buy tickets knowing your full ticket purchase price is going to a great cause!
Making a comeback this year, United Way Day of Caring is slated for September 20th. It’s a day of volunteerism that allows groups from companies and friends to get together and do hands on support for local organizations. Sign up through the Granite United Way website.
Next, Fine Master Wannabee Jon Flagg stepped up to raise some funds for the club. He had us all take out a dollar bill and hold it up to our foreheads, at which point we knew we were in trouble. His promise to teach us how to fold it into a barn was really a ruse just to bilk a dollar from everyone, which he quickly did! He got $2 dollars off me because of my parents alleged “weird fascination” with barns.
This provided a perfect segue way for Happy Birthday’s to all our July born Rotarians.
John Porter, our speaker, was truly fascinating to anyone interested in New Hampshire history or simply barns in general. Stella Scamman recruited him to give us a presentation. Last year on their Stratham farm, the Scamman’s lost a grand mid-1800’s barn to a devastating fire.
Mr. Porter authored a book about preserving old barns and is a noted expert on New Hampshire’s stock of them. His excellent slide show explained the architectural elements of old barns. He noted that those elements were tied to a farmer’s needs and changes to the economy.
Barns were a symbol of agricultural prosperity. The earliest were built with exceptionally large beams hewn from logs. This made it easier to take away less of the large trees from which they were constructed.
Barns were over-engineered and sturdy enough to be moved intact before power lines made it impossible. They featured gunstock posts that flared out at the top and offered more support for adjoining beams. If moving intact was not an option, barns could be taken apart and re-assembled at their new location.
In the 1850’s barns become more decorative with prettier features and soffits added. Pegs were used to join the beams together, along with a ridge pole. Marriage marks refer to the roman numerals you can often see etched into the wood. These were used to assemble the joints which were custom made, or to reassemble a barn that had been taken apart.
Cupolas also became a feature in the 1850’s. These are viewed as decorative but served to allow light and ventilation for drying hay. Cow doors are typically located in the corners of the barn because cows have difficulty finding a door in the center of the wall.
One of the earliest styles of New Hampshire barn is the double English barn. John visited J.D. Salinger’s double English barn in Cornish at the request the late author’s wife. He showed us photos of the well-maintained structure still in use today.
John guesses that 95% of New Hampshire barns were built for dairy farming. Most families had a minimum of six cows, which is the same number that one person can milk in a sitting. The milk was primarily used for butter production because butter was easily stored and transferred. Other barns were built for horses and sheep. But sheep farming was replaced by dairy farming once wool from the Midwest became cheaper to produce than New England wool.
John’s family were farmers for four generations. He was the first of a generation not to inhabit the family farm. They had 42 cows on their family property, each with a name and specific stall in the cow barn.
John has a profound sense of humor and got a laugh when explained that cows cannot read, they just knew where to go. He spoke in detail about loose hay and the implements created to move it into barns and then stalls for feed. Various hay forks and scaffolding can be seen about barns that reflect all this.
The hay bailer was not invented until 1948 and his father was one of the first to own one. If you are interested in old barns and want to research a particular one, John suggested starting with your town’s historical society. You can then go to the New Hampshire Historical Society if you need more information.
The audience had many great questions about repair and preservation. There is no fund to help preserve old barns. Still, you may be able to obtain a grant to assess your old barn and subsequent recommendations about how to preserve it.
John is happy to field questions and be a resource for the state. My folks bought his book which had some great pictures and is available on Amazon as well.
Respectfully submitted, Aileen Dugan
Photos by Francoise Meissner and Dennis Moulton
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