Fine Post and Beam Barns are as American as Apple Pie, a reminder of the past, replaced almost entirely by stick-built pole barns or metal structures. But there is much to be admired about the beauty of the classic post and beam barns and the way in which they were built; solidly and with excellent, careful craftsmanship. Eric Sloane remarks, “It might be said that the early barn is the best example of American colonial architecture. Each old barn was born of American soil and fitted to an American landscape for specific American needs.” (Eric Sloane, American Barns and Covered Bridges)

   In antiquity, all wood barns were post and beam constructed or log style, it was not until the 1800s and the onset of the Industrial Revolution that smaller, stick-built, construction became possible. The lumber for building those early barns was harvested from the American landscape of our forefathers,all their needs found in the richness of the forests around them. There was no machinery to cut the felled trees into the 2x4s and 2x6’s used for conventional framing today, timber was hand hewed into full dimension lumber and mauls, mortise axes, chisels and mallets were used to create the mortise “female” connection of the post or beam and the “male” tenon of the post or beam. Before America gained independence there was a heavy tax imposed by England on metal and glass (among many other materials) so oak pegs were used rather than the nails of today to fasten and hold tight the joinery of the posts and beams. At the connection joints, holes were bored with an auger and pinned, once the “bents” were connected, with trunnels (treenails), a practice that still attracts admirers of post and beam construction today.

   But where did the Post and Beam Barn design we have come to know and love in America originate?
    In Europe, manybarns were used for storing tithes or, more accurately, taxes for the crown and was considered a religious obligation as well as a responsibility of the citizen. As such, many European barns were “churchlike” in design and architecture and more ornate than their later American counterparts. The tithe barns of Europe changed in America. The new settlers, escaping the taxes imposed by the monarchy, naturally did not want to be reminded of the heavy burden of tithes they had left behind.    As a result, the almost-cathedral style and features of the tithe barn were discarded for the more utilitarian and frontier sturdiness and practicality of the early American. Another difference was that the European ship’s kneebrace was improved upon and made more practical with the American straight knee brace you see in most Post and Beam structures today.

   An important feature that made the American Post and Beam Barn so different from the European was the convention of the “bent”. A “bent” is a section of vertical posts, connected to horizontal beams that is constructed on the ground and raised later to form the skeleton of the Post and Beam Barn. Most Post and Beam Barns consist of 4 or 5 bents depending on the size of the structure. In typical European barn construction, there were no sections that the barn could be raised in, instead, a full beam was used above the posts to connect each side of the structure. With the utilization of the “bent” the American Barn Raising phenomena was born. Just prior to the barn raising, the posts and beams were laid out on the ground to be connected and form the “bent”. Typically,the mortise and tenon connections were crafted beforehand and then pounded into place with a 40-pound wooden sledgehammer called a Beetle. Once tightly fitted together the joinery was secured and pinned in place with trunnels in preparation for raising day.
   In early America, a barn raising was an exciting event. Neighbors came from miles around to help with the process that required many hands. The “bents”, which had been laid out, connected, and fastened together by the experienced framer on site, were raised one at a time into place on the pre-laid foundation and floor. Participants used 16’ Pikes to push the bent section into place where it dropped into pre-bored holes in the floor to rest on the sill underneath. The Tenonsin the braces were joined to the mortises in the postsand beams to connect all the bents forming one continuous framework of the barn. The open space between each of the standing bents formed 1 bay. With the framing completed on the barn raising day, from there the farmer and his local helpers would complete construction, adding roofing, siding, trim, and all other components necessary to bring the structure to completion.

   Something truly American was born with the barn raising, a tradition that is continued here at Country Carpenter’s Post and Beam Barns.
    What makes an ordinary Post and Beam Barn is full dimension lumber, large 6x6, 6x8, 8x8, and larger, posts and beams along with mortise and tenon joinery complete with pegs at the connections. 
    What makes a Fine Post and Beam Barn is a reverence for wood, the past, and the ingenuity of our forefathers. Posts and beams crafted by hand allows the character of the wood to shine through and not be lost when it is stripped and over-processed for convenience sake. The beauty of the Fine Post and Beam Barn shines through in its simplicity and structural integrity.
    Everything Country Carpenter’s Post and Beam Barns builds is steeped in tradition and the principles of Fine Post and Beam Construction. Drawing on the traditions of the past, we focus on handmade simplicity with a reverence for the Post and Beam Barns of old and sustainability for future generations to come.