Built
in 1790 in the nearby farming community of Lloyd Harbor, the barn, currently
known as the Kissam Barn, can be
historically traced back to the Rogers family, who used the structure on their
homestead for livestock housing.
Legend has it, however, the barn also housed
British troops who were quartered there during the Revolution.
In
March 1972, the three-bay barn,
measuring 44 feet across the front, 38 feet deep and 30 feet high, was owned
by Mr. & Mrs.
Grenville D. Braman. The old building was
in disrepair. Offered as a gift,
with the stipulation that it had to be removed down to clean ground from the
Braman's property, the vintage barn, although
having no historical significance, was irresistible
to the Society, who immediately embraced
the idea of the big old building hosting fund,-raising events,
educational programs and exhibits.
A
framing plan was drawn and volunteers wrote out 900 numbered tags that were
nailed to each joint in the entire
main building and adjoining sheep shed. Piece by piece the parts were laid out
on a huge flatbed trailer
and transported to .the Kissam
House. The timbers were stored under
tarpaulins for nine months until the
society could raise the necessary funds to pay for the reconstruction. Much
of the wood had to be replaced and
new oak pegs, tenions and mortises had to be
hand-hewn as not one nail would be used.
With a
fund-raising effort in full stride, $66,000 was raised within 14 months. The
Flower Hill Building Corporation of
Westbury began to repair and assemble the pieces. A concrete foundation was
poured and a stone wall was laid
on top of the concrete to simulate the original stone work. The stones,
gathered by volunteers, were collected
from different locations around the town.
Mr. John Hansen, a noted local antique tool collector and long-time
builder, volunteered his services to
oversee the construction work. Many original tools such as a
corner chisel, maul,
broad axe and adz from his private collection, were used to repair and
re-assemble the original beams. The
500 wooden pegs or "treenails" used to fasten the frame were produced by Mr.
Stanley Smitten and his Oceanside High School woodworking class.
The actual "barn-raising" took place in
the freezing 15-degree weather on January 31st, 1973. As over 30 devoted
volunteers stood by, the 40-ton crane hoisted four two-ton wooden frames or
"bents" and swung them into place.
Members of the Society gave the occasion
as much flavor as it might have had in Colonials days, including an old-fashioned
lunch break, where women volunteers dressed in colonial costume brought in
steaming trays of baked chicken, beans, breads, cake and coffee for the
work crew.
Once the frame was in place the work
continued through the spring. The barn received new pine siding, flooring
and a new red cedar shingle roof
.the doors were fastened in the old
manner with crimped-over iron nails and re-hung on the
original strap hinges. A wooden ramp was
constructed at the main door
similar to those found on many
Long Island barns.
Even today,
many parts of the original set up remain intact, including mangers
and feedboxes worn
smooth over two centuries of use and the
horizontal framing of
the south bay, constructed as such to prevent
the cattle from kicking out the siding.
