The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance will offer a behind-the-scenes tour of two of Wilton Center’s distinctive estate barns Saturday, July 29, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Historic preservation experts Ian Blackman and Steve Bedard will lead attendees on a guided tour of the Keller Family Barn, a five-story estate barn built by the Newell Family in 1890 adjacent to their 1800 Federal-style house. The barn has many unique features not often seen in New Hampshire barns. Participants will explore the cupola and the water-collection system with metal-lined wooden cistern in the hayloft and huge concrete cistern in the basement, the tack room with beadboard walls and the built-in cabinet with multi-paned sliding glass doors, along with the standing stalls for draft horses with a built-in hidden gutter system. This barn is experiencing water problems associated with its hillside location, so common drainage issues and solutions will be discussed.
Participants will then gather at the Ebenezer Rockwood Barn just down the road. This early Yankee barn is part of what was once a 600-acre estate established in 1784 by Dr. Ebenezer Rockwood after being invited to set up a medical practice in Wilton because there was no physician in town. The barn’s history is not fully known. It appears that the frame is comprised of two 18th-century barns that have been joined, or possibly just an early addition, and a truss system added at a later time on the second floor to allow the interior posts of the first floor to be removed for the use as a large carriage room. Program participants will help Blackman and Bedard read the barn frame features to understand the development of its changes over the centuries.
There will be time for questions and answers as participants tour the barns and during the refreshments at the end of the program.
Registratino is $20 for NHPA members and $30 for nonmembers. The workshop and one-year membership is $40. To register, visit nhpreservation.org.