Esperanza’s barn, the barn that is still part of the property that is, is actually two structures: a purpose built horse barn and a standard, English style, barn now used as a garage.  The two are attached to each other, the dates are entirely uncertain.  The carriage/garage section could be anywhere from 1800-1875, without careful examination I wouldn’t care to guess; the horse barn (despite family lore) is almost certainly 1873.  Dating barns is hard, recycled timbers were the order of the day and styles for general purpose barns changed only slightly.

In any event,  having reason to wander in the horse barn, I amused myself by examining the actual structure.  It is a post and beam build, and a big one.  Three east-west beams carry the hayloft: at 48 feet long, and 8inches by 8inches.  The barn floor is carried by another three beams of the same length, but closing in on 12 inchx12inch dimensions.  There are a another set of north-south sills, close to thirty-five feet in length, plus two floors of joists: 38 to a floor, thirty-five feet long, three inches by ten…plus corner/side posts….and the sheathing, and the flooring…in no case can you drive a heavy and very sharp knife in more than two or three millimeters, even with one’s full body weight behind it.

You can’t build them like that today…