Everything Old is New Again

Everything Old is New Again

Written by Randy B. Young

When astronomers gaze through their telescopes on a clear night, they’re seeing history. Because distant starlight often travels millions of years to reach our eyes, we’re seeing stars as they once were. And every star tells a story.

Take a Sunday drive along the bucolic backroads of our Nutmeg State and you’ll see history as well. Every age-old barn or farmstead tells a story — often a story of survival. 

As the state continues to move away from its agrarian roots, farmers and property owners are repurposing farms and “barn-chic” farm structures barns in innovative ways.

If These Barns Could Talk…

Farms were once ubiquitous in Connecticut, when industry began to supplant agriculture, the official Connecticut Tourism website (ctvisit.com) says.

“With each barn lost, another piece of the state’s rich agricultural history disappears,” wrote James Sexton, Ph.D., an architectural historian at Yale University and author of “Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn” (2005) for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (connecticutbarns.org/state-register).

Farmers’ struggles with competition, Americans’ changing diets and the growth of agribusiness has contributed to the decline of Connecticut’s farms, Sexton wrote. “Some barns, however, are being preserved through adaptive re-use,” he noted, though restorations and facelifts must consider the building, zoning and operational restrictions, as well as oppositional neighbors.

Here, then, are just a few creative ways they have stared down extinction, adapted and prospered.

Farming, from the Ground Up…

At Auerfarm in Bloomfield, they aren’t sowing cash crops, they’re growing farmers through their 4-H Education Center, where visitors can explore trails, gardens, animal barns and educational opportunities, the farm’s website (auerfarm.org) states.

“The farm was owned by Beatrice Fox Auerbach, so if you’re familiar with Hartford, you know G. Fox and Company,” says Erica Fearn, Auerfarm’s executive director, noting that Beatrice was the granddaughter of the founder and would later become president. 

She came to manage the 230-acre property for the next 40 years after her husband died. In the 1970s, the 120-acre Education Center was deeded to the nonprofit Connecticut 4-H Development Fund.

Fearn explains that the working farm is essentially a classroom, hosting several school programs during the school year, numerous school field trips and summer camps. “Visitors are also welcome and can tour around the farm and orchard,” she says. “We’re also part of Farm Stay USA, an Airbnb platform. You can do a farm tour or even work on the farm to help out.”

Upcoming events include their October 4 Fall Festival and Santa on the Farm in Christmas season. Currently, Auerfarm produces blueberries, hay, maple syrup, honey and a tangible love for the land.

Good News Comes in ‘Trees’

Located in historic Brooklyn, the Allen Hill Farm was purchased in 1891. Though the property was a dairy farm until 1963, the family converted the property to a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm in 1980. Later, it became an event venue overlooking Christmas trees and the Quinebaug River.

“We’re now 350 acres, because we’ve added to it, but we’ve had it since 1891,” says Allen Hill co-owner Charles Langevin. “There’s a shortage [of tree farms] in Connecticut, and we’re among the largest.”

Though “trees are our roots,” Allen Hill Farm (allenhillfarm.com) says, the family has “branched out” to host events.

“Modern amenities, seating for 150 guests and a new catering area make it the ideal location for your wedding or special event,” the website states.

Langevin says the notion of hosting weddings and events emerged organically. “People asked us to use the barn for their own personal weddings before we even thought of the idea. Then we saw the potential.”

And while weddings and events don’t come with a free Christmas tree, Langevin says there are plenty of familiar faces around December. “We’ve had couples come back for [Christmas] trees after their nuptials, and some have even brought their children back.”

Grin and Beer It…

At Norbrook Farms Brewery in Colebrook, “wheels are turning,” many of them on off-road cycling trails stitched across the landscape. The property offers almost as many ways to build a thirst as it does ways to quench it.

Co-owner John Auclair says he bought the 472-acre property in 2016 and made the decision to put a farm brewery here, but recreation options were soon to follow, including disc golf, mountain biking and hiking trails. Norbrook Farms Brewery offers beer flights, a full kitchen, a patio and an event space. 

“Norbrook provides opportunities for numerous outdoor activities on its 472 acres, including 9.5 miles of hiking trails,” Colleen Gundlach wrote in Norfolk Now.

“There is an also Airbnb on the property,” Auclair points out. “My wife runs it.”

The cozy cottage is only steps from the brewery,” Norbrook’s website (norbrookfarm.com) states, “offering the perfect retreat after a day of great outdoor adventures and refreshing beer.”

Norbrook Farms Brewery doesn’t hibernate during colder months; it celebrates them, with groomed cross-country trails and equipment rentals. Clearly, we can build a thirst in any season.

Being of Sound Mind…

When Joe Patrina was searching for an acoustically optimal space for his band to play what he calls “Heartland Music,” he looked no farther than his own backyard.

It was in 2009 that Patrina made the “sound” decision to transform the large barn on his West Simsbury property into a performance venue.

“The LittleHouse barn was built in 1950, and built well,” Patrina says. “You can now hear the room’s personality in the live performances.”

Patrina says the idea came from Carter Family Fold in Virginia, which he visited in the 1990s after meeting with one of the original Carter cousins, Jeanette Carter, before she died.

“She hosted shows each Saturday night in The Fold, a barn built by her brother Joe,” Patrina explains. “I came home and did what she told me to do. I put a lot of money into acoustics…there’s patina on the wood, and I have great lighting and a German sound system.”

LittleHouse Live started when Patrina started writing songs. Since 2010, he has written hundreds for him and a band of what Patrina calls “A-plus” musicians. Shows draw a combination of music enthusiasts and diehard LittleHouse Live fans to the barn.

Patrina says LittleHouse Live stages free shows about once a month from April through November, when fans can enjoy music “for a song.” “Anyone wanting an invite to a show just has to enter their email address into the LittleHouseLive.com database,” he states.

In Plane View

The future of Candlelight Farms, a 600-acre estate and event venue in New Milford, was once up in the air. 

“We had an old barn that was used as an old airplane hangar,” says owner Nancy Saggese. “The house and the other barns date from 1843, but the hangar was probably built in the 1940s when we had a grass [landing] strip so people could fly here.”

Jessica and Carl Dunham, Sr. purchased the one-time dairy farm in 1937, describes the Candlelight Farms website (candlelightfarmsinn.com), creating a welcoming destination. Without electricity at that time, however, they signed the deed by candlelight, thus the name.

“Carl Dunham [Junior], my husband, was born here,” Saggese states. “Back then, it was already a tourist attraction. People would fly in from New York…guests would even hang around and help with this and that.”

“After closing in the 1950s, Carl re-opened it years later and [worked with] horses,” Saggese explains. “After I retired from teaching, Carl said, ‘You’ve been having weddings here for all your friends, so why don’t you open up the barns for weddings?’”

“Before farm and barn weddings were popular, we were doing that,” Saggese says. “It was like the beginning of barn weddings, and boy, did people love it.”

The Candlelight Farms Inn was built in 1840 and offers breathtaking views of surrounding mountains, pastures and peaceful ponds, which are the heartbeat of Candlelight Farms, the popularity of which continues to soar.

Barn Vivant…

400 billion stars just in our galaxy alone give astronomers a reason to up and look back in time for inspiration. 

Conversely, a 2010 State Register of Historic Places study found only 8,600 barns remaining in Connecticut. When we seek them out — when we look back in time — we learn what each has to teach us about adaptability and perseverance.

And we don’t even need a telescope. 

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Randy B. Young worked in advertising in New England before relocating and working in communications for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. N.C.  Recently retired, he is a freelance writer and photographer.