Barn experts Jeffrey Marshall and Greg Huber arrived at Hoffman Barn in Nockamixon in early March to tell the building’s story for the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania’s PA Barns 250 documentary, writes Tom Venesky for Lancaster Farming.
The barn follows the Pennsylvania Standard design, with three stone sides and a recessed wall beneath the forebay, but one detail sets the building apart from most standard barns.
Fifty-six 10-inch holes, lined with brick and aligned in rows, break up the stone walls, allowing ventilation. According to Marshall, the design is unique, as most barns typically rely on wooden louvers and slits.
“There are maybe two dozen barns in Bucks, Northampton, Warren (New Jersey) and Hunterdon (New Jersey) counties that have round ventilators,” he said. “That’s basically two dozen in the whole world.”
The circular holes were a trademark of barn builder and New Jersey native Benjamin Fritts.
“That’s what makes this barn rare and also beautiful inside when the sun streams through all of these round holes,” he said.
The use of brick to line the holes, along with other distinctive details in the structure, helped to provide a rough estimate of the date of the barn’s construction. According to Marshall, it’s estimated that it was built between 1830 and 1840.
Read more about Hoffman Barn in Nockamixon and the special structural details that set it apart in Lancaster Farming.
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