Preserving Rural History Important Too

By Don Rittner

Four hundred years ago, the Capital District landscape was dotted with Dutch made houses, barns, and outbuildings. This visual image can also be connected to Schoharie County, western Long Island, and the northern sections of New Jersey. These areas were parts of 17th century New Netherland, the Dutch founded part of the Northeast that includes New York, with parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware.

The Dutch, and those that followed such as the Germans (Palatines), Swedes, English, and 13 other nationalities, all brought with them their culture and way of life from Europe. However, once here, they adapted quickly to the new countryside and natural resources and developed their own blend of old and new world technologies. These can be seen ideally in the architecture they left behind.

There is evidence that the earliest Dutch settlers lived in a combination house and barn, while later developing their characteristic Dutch house, separate barn, and hay barracks. We all know that most of the Dutch houses are gone, but for some reason it seems the Dutch barn may have survived in greater numbers.

A typical Dutch barn had 4-bays and three-aisles with a gable-entrance, with double-wagon doors, protected by a cantilevered pentice roof, and two stock doors on either gable corner. One of the double wagon doors would be cut in half ("Dutched"). Martin or owl holes in different patterns would be up under the eves. Inside the characteristic H-frame, an H-bent, with upright posts went from the threshing floor to the purlin plate that supported the rafters. The barn was wider than longer and the roof pitch varied, some roofs ends so low that low you could touch them.

Back in the 1977, Albany historian John Wolcott surveyed the Town of Guilderland and found quite a number of Dutch barns; most are now gone. Over the years, several organizations have been created to study and help preserve these barns. I remember years ago helping Vince Schaefer when he and others were creating the Dutch Barn Preservation Society, which now is a leading promoter of barn preservation in our area. There are also others like the Society for the Preservation of Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture, The New York State Barn Coalition, and New World Dutch Barn Survey 2000. These organization have in common the dedication of their members who are trying to study and preserve historic barns from all nationalities, not just Dutch. It’s a rush against time as many of these symbols of an earlier way of life either rot and fall from neglect, are torched, or get purchased by out of town developers who take them down, cart them away, and rebuild them as homes, or whatever.

Keith Cramer from the Dutch Barn Society, and Hubert De Leeuw, a Dutch entrepreneur from the Netherlands, have established a new program called the Dutch Farmstead Survey 2005-2008. To put it simply, they are gathering up volunteers to conduct a complete study of the New Netherland region to see how many Dutch houses, barns and other outbuildings still exist. The survey will be conducted on a county-by-county basis. The Survey Project will be headed by members of the Dutch Barn Preservation Society (DBPS) located on the Web at www.schist.org/dbps.htm, and the Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture (HVVA), at www.threerivershms.com/hvva.htm.

If you are interested in helping you can contact Keith Cramer (cramerkeith@msn.com), President of the Dutch Barn Preservation Society, or Peter Sinclair of the HVVA (hvvernar@netstep.net). DBPS VP Ned Pratt will be covering Rensselaer County and I will take on the duty for Schenectady County.

In Albany County, the Berne Historical Project (www.Bernehistory.org) will undertake a study of their barns with the objective of creating an interest by the citizens of Berne in their remaining early barns.

For those of you who own a Dutch Barn, or any barn built before 1937, you might be interested in knowing there is a tax credit available for fixing them up. You can find information about the program from the New York State Historic Preservation Web site (nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/technical/hisbarns.htm). The Web site will give you the information needed to qualify for an income tax credit equal to 25% of the cost of rehabilitating your barn.

While it is understandable that much of the media attention for preservation is focused on the history of our cities, our rural history is just as important to preserve. Hopefully, this study of the surviving Dutch Barns in our area will be only the beginning of a more in depth and overall study of all aspects of our regional history.