[MassHistPres] Cold-storage barn in early 1900s

[Anne Forbes]

Susan,

I know of two early 20th-century stone barns in Acton, at least one of which 
was built for apple storage.  That one is in Acton center.  It's quite 
large; located behind the house at 446 Main Street.  I can dig out the 
B-Form on the property if you are interested.

There are some smaller stone farm and storage buildings in Carlisle, though 
apparently not built for apples.  Sterling has several small ones, as well. 
There's a stone silo in Acton near the Carlisle border, and there was one 
until recently nearby in Concord.

Most of the stone outbuildings I've run into from that period were built by 
farmers and/or masons who came from Europe, bringing their technological 
expertise, and perhaps the preference for stone rather than wood for 
cold-storage, to this country.

Anne Forbes
Acton


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan McLaughlin" <susanmc1 at earthlink.net>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 7:05 PM
Subject: [MassHistPres] Cold-storage barn in early 1900s


>
> The Town of Stow has an historic structure known as the Larsen Apple Barn, 
> a
> farm building with very thick stone walls. It was built by Peter Larsen in
> roughly 1918 to store apples and other produce for his farm and local
> farmers. It is said to have been state-of-the-art cold storage in its 
> time,
> allowing farmers to store surplus produce until demand increased after the
> harvest season and brought them higher prices.
>
> We are wondering how unique this building is. Are there similar structures
> in your towns? Or do you know of others in Massachusetts?
>
> Many thanks.
> Susan McLaughlin
> Stow Historical Commission member
> susanmc1 at earthlink.net
>
>
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