Hay and Horse Barn

Hay and Horse Barn. A grand barn for a model farm. , Built for three teams of horses and to store hay for the winter, the "Big Barn" replaced a similar building that burned in 1902. The Lords built the barn with high quality materials and added technological innovations. These included a hay-wagon floor scale for tracking the harvest, a chute for delivering oats to stalls from a storage bin on the second floor, an electric hoist for lifting hay to the storage area above, and plumbing for refilling water bowls for each horse., Horses were used for work on the farm, as well as for pleasure and transportation. When George Clement Lord II took the train to Boston, he rode a mile on horseback or by carriage to the Elms Station, then told his horses to go home. They would end up right back here at the barn., Farmers used the barn's weathervane, together with their knowledge of cloud forms, to predict the weather. Since hay could mold or even ignite if stored too wet, farmers wanted fields to be dry when cutting. The weathervane that tops the barn today is a replica; the original is displayed in the Visitor Center.,

By the Numbers , 1904 Construction completed , 9 Single horse stalls , 3 Large box stalls for horses or cows giving birth , 40 Pounds of hay one draft horse eats daily in winter , 1970 Last year used for livestock , 1,600 Capacity of basement water tank, in gallons , 6 Maximum tonnage measured by hay wagon scale , 100 Length of main barn floor, in feet , 47 Width of main barn floor in feet, Current Use: , Events and Programs, Storage, Classroom, Gallery.