A Quarterly Journal of Historical Preservation Volume 4 Number 3 A MICHIGAN BARN RAISING PLIMOTH LOOKING BACK-LOOKING FORWARD PLANTATION by Stephen Stier From its beginnings in the 19408 to the Bam building in America was an experience of every rural genera­ present, Plimoth Plantation has become a tion for nearly 300 years. Neighboring families gathered together m~del for regional living history interpre­ from miles around to work and to socialize. Today that long chain of tation.. Recreating the village Pilgrims shared experience has been broken for three or four generations, yet began 1D 1620 on the Atlantic coast just the mention ofa bam raising will bring a smile of recognition from north of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was a nearly everyone. longtime dream of Henry Hornblower II. Even more than the farmhouse, the bam served as an anchor He was a native ofthe area and had a life to the farmstead. MaQ.y of these icons of farm life are still standing long interest in the lives of the Pilgrims but are ill-used and deteriorating. Barns have become the victims not and the Indians of Plymouth and was only of rapidly changing agricultural circumstance, but also of our disturbed to see visitors come to town and failure to recognize the worth ofhistory and its lessons. I believe that l~ve. wi~.little or. no knowled~ of the the tools, skills, and knowledge of traditional bam building, as well Pilgrims life and times. He enVisioned a as the bams that remain, have something important to teach us. living museum that would show how the veterans of the Mayflower survived after landing at Plymouth and what they ac­ complished during the early years. In 1948, soon after acquiring a small piece of land near Plymouth Rock, he had a mo$1el of an early house con­ structed. It drew 390,000 people the first year. Work was begun on a second hoUBe, representing a later building style, from 1627. These structures, though no longer consistent with the most up-to-date study and archeology, are still used in conjunc­ tion with Mayflower II, a fullscale repro­ ducti~n of the type of ship that brought the Pilgrims to America. Built in England, the Mayflower II was sailed from Plym­ outh to Plymouth in 1957; with its creW Bam Raising, Bill Sauders Farm. Kalamazoo, Michigan in period clothing, it remains a popular Photograph by Paul Carlson, courtesy of Tillers International and impressive site at Plymouth. .. In 1988, Bill Sa~n~ers, who grows grapes near Kalamazoo, In 1956, Plimoth Plantation ac­ Mlch~gan, found that hiS .CIrca 1870 bam w~s in bad enough shape quired a larger site nearby on the Eel that It was not usable. Bill called on M. Stitt Barn Restoration of River, where a visitor center, a craft cen­ Hesperia, Michigan, to do the necessary repairs. While the barn was ter, an~ a stockaded village have since jacked up to replace rotted sills, Mother Nature brewed up the been bUilt. At Hobbamock's home site on strongest storm in years. High winds left the old bam a heap of the river's edge, Wampanoag Indian Pro­ broken beams. Feeling fortunate that no one was hurt, Bill Saunders gram. staff, some in twentieth-century was resolved to accept the loss, but Mike Stitt would not. clothmg, tell the story of the native One of an extended family of bam repairmen with roots in Wampanoag people and of Hobbamock the trade. Mike began painting and repairing barns with his father and his family, who had come from and brothers at a very early age. Soon after the Saunders barn was Pokanoket (in present day Rhode Island) destroyed he began to collect the materials needed to build a new one, and helped the Pilgrims in the early years. but in 1988 he could not foresee how long it would take, nor the (continued on page 7) course of events that would produce a new barn. (continued on page 2 and 3) o I t has been 26 years since the (A Michigan Bam Raising; publication ofJohn Fitchen's sem­ continued from page 1) inal work, The New World Dutch My association with Mike Bam, the first extensive treatise ~rts C~s; began in early 1992 when we de­ Super Formulas. and done on this major ethnic barn veloped an educational exhibit by Elaine C. WhIte; Valley HIlls type of the northeast which origi­ ~. about traditional barn-building Press, 864 Ridgeland Drive, nated in the early seventeenth tools and methods for the Michi­ Starkville, MISS. 39759; 1993; 114 century with the Dutch settlement gan State UniversityMuseum. The pages, $12.95 softcover. of the Hudson Valley. This tradi­ museum had been called on by the he author of this well done tion of barn continued into the Michigan State Fair Council to T mid nineteenth century. Two edi­ enhance agricultural and educa­ book spent four years researching tions of Fitchen's book were print­ and kitchen-testing its 360 formu­ tional exhibits at the fair. The ed, the second appearing about result was an agricultural living las for useful products that contain 1975. Nothing has been readily honey and beeswax. From a simple history area within the fair­ available since. grounds, named the ~ountry Life cheese wax, (13.5 ounces beeswax, This new book by Purple 2.5 ounces vegetable shortening. Historic Park. Coordmated by the Mountain Press is a welcome addi­ museum, interpreted exhibits and Heat to 200 degrees F to combine. tion. It is a valuable source of in­ Dip cheese when wax reaches 160 demonstrations were provided by formation for the general reader. living history farms and histori­ to 180 degrees), to c?mplex .but Schaefer illustrates most of the careful step-by-step mstructlons cal/educational groups from across salient features. He discusses the Michigan provided exhibi.ts, and for turning honey into Mead, per­ roof structure, the internal fram­ haps man's first al~oholic beverage, demonstrations. As eXhlbltors, ing, pentices, marten holes, metal Mike and I were delighted with this book covers It all. Super For­ and wood hinges, and doors. mulas is for beekeepers, artists, the public's interest in the tools There is also an emphasis on the and processes of traditional barn and do-it-yourselfers, but anyone variability of the design. could benefit from its practical building. appe~dix Beyond the general, de­ knowledge. The of IJ;lore scription of the Dutch/Amencan than . SO suppliers IS especIally barn, Schaefer's book is largely handy. This book has been well provincial. He briefly describes received in publications ofthe bee­ about 15 barns in his own area, keeping world. LIVING HISTORY Schenectady, New York. The read­ BOX 202 er will find little original informa­ Riston Cast in Metal; compiled West Hurley, NY 12491 tion beyond what Fitchen offered. (914) 338-0257 by Clyde Sanders and Dudley C. Recently independent research has Gould, American Foundrymen's expanded the understanding ofthe Society, 50S State Street, Dutch/American barn. They have Peter Sinclair Des Plaines, IL 60016-8399; 576 now been found in about 25 coun­ Editor/Publisher pages, 400 illustrations, $30 hard­ ties of New York and New Jersey Denise Martin cover.. and one provence of Canada. Chief Copy Editor One of the best books covering In Fitchen's book only 10 the history of iron in America counties were represented, and he $15 from 1607 to 1890, History Cast in located only three barns in New One-Year/Four-Issue Metal covers the field from its Jersey. To date about 125 barns in subscription beginnings to the era oflarge scale New Jersey, and 400 to 450 in production. It describes the many New York have been documented. uses of steel, the men who devel­ New information has been re­ oped it, and the places it was vealed relating to the development manufactured. Write AFS for a and regional variations orsubtypes catalogue listing over 100 books of the barn. Although lacking this and manual on all aspects of cast new information, Schaefer's, book metal. Including an English-Span­ is a much needed reaffirmatIon of ish dictionary containing 8,000 the existence of the Dutch bam metal casting terms. which is rapidly vanishing from Peter Sinclair our landscape. Schaefer's boo~ is a good introduction to the subject. Dutch Barns of New York • An Greg Huber Introduction; by Vincent J. Schaefer, Purple Mountain Press, MICHAEL WEISBROT • Living History Contact: Ltd., Box E-3, Fleischmanns, NY ARCHNALPHOTOGRAPHY Programs Richard Pawling 12430; 80 pages, 8.5 x 11, 65 illus­ AND WEDDINGS. • Interpretive R.O.8 Box 228A trations, softcover; $15 plus $3 (914) 338-0293. Training Reading, I'A 19608 postage and handling Workshops (215) n7-6761 SUMMER 1994 PAGE THREE Another exhibitor at the fair was Tillers Interna­ At midmorning the first bent was raised. Even tional of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This non-profit organi­ the most casual observer was moved to see the huge zation dedicated to preserving nearly lost rural arts and timbers go up, moved only by human and animal power, crafts. In 1993 Mike joined with Tillers to d~ign and to hear the shouts of encouragement and grunts of produce a living history workshop that would invite effort; the creaking sounds ofthe wood. Even though we participants to use the old tools and methods to actually know intellectually that our barns built before 1930 were produce a barn. And the barn to build? Well, the one raised in much this same way, the raising of the that Bill Saunders lost to the wind, of course.