BUCKLAND — With restoration complete, the Wilder Homestead barn is ready to serve Buckland residents for centuries to come, said architect and builder Jack Sobon.
The Buckland Historical Society opened the historic English-style barn to a few residents, history buffs and supporters of the barn restoration project on Thursday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration, wrapping up efforts that date back more than a decade.
“In 1780, building a barn out here was a dangerous enterprise. The war with Britain for our independence was not yet over, and there was a danger in these woods. When we started working on this barn project 10 years ago, this barn was in danger,” said David Parrella, chair of the Buckland Historical Society’s Barn Committee.
Restoring the historic barn took more than a decade of fundraising and two years of construction work, Parrella said. Plans to restore it began to take shape in 2006, when they realized how much of the wood was rotting. The project was supported by a Cultural Council grant, many local businesses, community members and the state.
Sobon, who specializes in the repair of historic timber-framed buildings, said restoring the barn required a lot of attention to detail. Each beam was individually tagged so that when crews with The Cruckfather LLC took it apart, it could be put back together exactly the way it was, with some new timber replacing beams that were too rotted to repair.
“You wouldn’t want to do this with a house because in a house you’ve got plastic, insulation and all that other stuff, but in a barn, it’s basically a layer of siding over the timber frame,” Sobon said. “So it’s easy to take a barn down, especially if it needs a new roof anyway. So you take it down, do all your repairs, then put it back up again.”
Sobon said the barn was restored using the same historic methods it was originally built with. Crews cut down trees on the hill just past the barn and pulled them to the site using oxen, then milled the timber there. Beams were hand-hewn with axes and installed using traditional joint styles, such as English tying joints, where the timber is held together at the joint using a wooden peg.
“We wanted to recreate it as authentically as possible,” Sobon said. “If you just repair something with epoxy and steel and glue, you’re not keeping the craft alive. To me, it’s just as important to preserve the craft that built this as it is the actual artifact.”
The barn did get a few new upgrades, such as a staircase up to the hayloft where historic sleighs and tools are now on display, plus modern lighting and an exit sign that complies with building codes. Sobon said with the restoration work complete, the building should last for many more years to come.
“Any building, even the best-built buildings, will not last if no one maintains it,” Sobon said. “If it’s taken care of, it should last indefinitely. I can see this being 1,000 years old.”
With the completion of the restoration project, the Buckland Historical Society hopes to plan events and programs at the barn.
“Now we have an additional canvas to showcase this historic treasure, the community has generously entrusted to us,” said Buckland Historical Society President Pat Schmidt.
“It’s not a barn for animals, but a space for the people of Buckland,” added Parrella.
Former state Sen. Adam Hinds said he grew up in Buckland and is proud of the community that rallied around the barn and raised money to restore it.
“I grew up 500 feet up the road, so I went by the barn and this house every single day of my life,” Hinds said. “I got to see how special this place was for my understanding of community, for our ability to take a look back in time and feel grounded in what this community is and how long it’s been here.
“This is a real testament to how important community is. It’s a difficult time right now in our country, and it makes me feel good to be here and think, this building is [nearly as old as] the Constitution itself and it’s lasted,” Hinds continued. “It takes a little reinvigoration and a little renovation, but it’s standing strong.”
Joining Hinds and other community members in celebrating the barn’s past and future was state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield, who was tasked with reading a letter from Mike McCusker. McCusker is a member of the Historical Society’s board of trustees and, according to Schmidt and Parrella, led the charge to restore the barn, but was unable to attend the celebration due to medical reasons. Through Blais, McCusker thanked all the volunteers who fundraised and prepared the building for its restoration and reopening.
“Volunteers were needed to move everything into storage for construction and volunteers were needed to bring everything back. Volunteers were needed on several parts of the restoration itself,” Blais read. “As Bucklanders and Buckland neighbors, they should be very proud of this accomplishment, and that the commonwealth thanks them for preserving it for posterity.”
The Historical Society’s next scheduled open house at the homestead will be on Sunday, Sept. 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 12, from 2 to 5 p.m.