Historic Round Barn and Farm Market
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Historic Round Barn and Farm Market
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
About eight miles outside Gettysburg, this historic Round Barn and Farm Market can be found just off the historic Lincoln Highway in Biglerville, Pennsylvania.
It was constructed in 1914 by the Noah Sheely family after they lost their traditional barn to a fire. After Sheely's son Daniel saw a round barn near Hershey, Pennsylvania, he convinced his father a round barn was the type of barn they needed to replace their old one.
Once the silo and walls on the lower floor were in place, the locals were so intrigued with the idea of a round barn they flocked to the site every Sunday to check the barn's progress. It is said that one Sunday, almost 300 people showed up to admire its craftsmanship!
The barn is 282 feet in circumference and has a diameter of almost 90 feet. The central silo is 60 feet high and 12 feet wide, with 145 tons of silage storage capacity. The silo acts like the hub of a wheel, with 14 girder spokes radiating out from it to support the second floor. Each spoke is almost 37 feet long. Before the barn became a farm store, it housed 90 heads of cattle and horses. There were 66 stalls, 50 of which had steel stanchions for the cattle and 16 stalls for mules and horses.
The Shakers built the first round barns around 1826 in Massachusetts. They believed the circle was perfect since the devil couldn't trap you in the corner. The barn style was copied through the Northeast and Midwest between 1900 and 1920.
There are two distinct shapes of round barns: the polygonal barn, which has five or more equal sides, and the authentic round barn, also known as a barrel barn. Sadly, only a handful of barrel barns are left. They are so rare now that they are considered an architectural endangered species.
The barn is registered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
March 11th, 2023
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