KENT, Conn.—The Kent Land Trust, which oversees several historic barns, has announced that one of them, the so-called “Sentinel” (or Casey) Barn that stands alone in a field on the Southern Gateway Preserve, will soon be taken down.
In a notice in its newsletter, the land trust said, the structure has reached an “advanced state of dilapidation and unsteadiness” and it is not possible to keep it standing.
Over the years the land trust has conserved the underlying land, has replaced the roof and twice shored up its structural integrity.
Working with local contractors it will salvage its historic beams for commemoration and reuse in a manner yet to be determined.
The history of the barn, which is a landmark of Kent’s agricultural heritage, is hazy. John Casey, whose family farmed the land when he was young, remembers it when he worked the fields around it, but was unsure of its origins. Some have speculated that it was a tobacco barn, but it appears that it was not, according to Mason Lord, founder of Hudson Valley Preservation, who has worked on the building in the past.
He thinks it may have been moved there from another location and used for animals or the equipment relating to farm animals. “When we worked on it, we found buckles and metal in the ground,” he said, suggesting tack used for horses. Based on its mortice-and-tenon construction, he dates the building to the mid-19th century.
Kent Historian Marge Smith said a larger barn was once located near the Casey Barn that was probably associated with raising tobacco. While predominantly associated with the Connecticut River Valley, tobacco was historically a successful cash crop in the northwest hills during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Farmers in the Housatonic Valley grew tobacco as a secondary crop that put cash in their pockets for the niceties of life.
The process was labor-intensive, however, requiring year-round tending and curing, with harvesting occurring in late August. Farm children of the era recall with distaste their job of removing large green worms—as long as an index finger—from the tobacco leaves. The micro-climates in Kent and New Milford allowed cultivation of broadleaf tobacco, which was used for cigar wrappings, and the worms would have marred the leaves.
Farmers used ventilated barns with adjustable, vertical clapboards to cure the leaves, a feature not found in the Casey Barn.
Whatever its history, the barn is emblematic of the town’s agricultural past, and the land trust is interested in keeping its memory alive. The trust, which is itself located in one of the red barns along Route 7, three miles south of the village center, asks that residents who have photos of the iconic barn share them in this Google Drive folder, or send them and written memories to admin@kentlandtrust.org.
