Tag: barns

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Atop the Barndoor Hills

Yankee Farmlands № 92 (Barndoor Hills, Granby, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 92”
Granby, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Nestled in a cozy valley between the monolithic Barndoor Hills, the stables and white-fenced pastureland of a picturesque horse ranch contrast with the expansive forests of Connecticut’s northwest.

Prior to the advent of automobiles in the 20th century, horses were a ubiquitous mode of transportation throughout the United States. And, perhaps thanks to Wild West films, it’s not hard for us these days to envision an era when horses were commonplace. But when did these animals arrive in New England?

Native Americans living in New England did not possess horses prior to European contact. And although the Pilgrims were exceptionally familiar with horses in their homeland, they neglected to bring any along on their pioneering voyage to establish Plymouth on the Massachusetts coast in 1620. Explicit mention of a horse in Southern New England doesn’t appear in records until 1632, when the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony mentions riding the “Governor’s mare” while traveling between villages.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Quiet Store in the Quiet Corner

Yankee Farmlands № 90 (Farm stand in Eastford, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 90”
Eastford, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

A scattering of pumpkins and bushels of fresh squash and gourds sit by the roadside beckoning to passersby to visit this farm store in Connecticut’s Quiet Corner. Potted chrysanthemums sit in arrangement beside the store’s corrugated walls, enjoying some mid-day sunlight as October wanes.

There’s good reason that Eastford and surrounding towns in Northeastern Connecticut have come to be referred to affectionately as the “The Quiet Corner”. With only about 60 people per square mile, Eastford is among the most sparsely populated towns in the entire state, and that trend towards being a quiet, out-of-the-way hamlet stretches back well over a century.

Even in the late 1800s, at a time when a great deal of Connecticut was booming with industrial might, Eastford was arguably languishing. The town was “touched by no railroad”, according to an 1881 state agricultural report. The account went on, noting that Eastford had actually “lost population since… 1870” and lacked any significant manufacturing or markets.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

In the Hills of Salisbury

Yankee Farmlands № 89 (farm in Salisbury, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 89”
Salisbury, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Barns nestle into the shadowy foot of a steep hill in Connecticut’s rugged northwest. The forest canopy has noticeably thinned as the latter days of October grip the landscape, only evergreens and a few stubborn broadleaves retaining their foliage.

In the 1830s, J. W. Barber described Salisbury not only as a farming community, but also as being “much celebrated for its very rich and productive iron mines”. The first forge had been constructed there in 1732 and was followed in time by several dozen more that came to dot the Housatonic Valley in the 19th century. Barber reported that thousands of tons of ore were being extracted each year from Salisbury alone at a site referred to as “Old Ore Hill”.

But, as was the story with so many of New England’s early industrial pursuits, the burgeoning population centers further west gradually made it less practical to have iron operations centered in the hills of the Housatonic Valley. In 1923, not quite a century after Barber swooned over Connecticut’s mighty iron mines, the last of the state’s blast furnaces was extinguished. Today, the sparsely-settled forests of Salisbury offer little trace of its illustrious industrial past.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Canton Greening Over

Yankee Farmlands № 64 (Farm in Canton, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 64”
Barns and pasture beside wooded hill during springtime, Canton, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Barns nestle into the bottom of a broad ridge in Northern Connecticut, the adjacent pastures already thick with grasses by early May. Woodlands on the hillside have taken to “greening over” as recent rains nourish buds and emerging leaves.

In modern times, Canton is a prosperous township of nearly 9,000 in the Farmington River Valley. Even as early as the mid-1800s, the renowned Collinsville ax factory brought growth and industrial might in the southern reaches of the town.

But the earliest settlers of Canton, said to have arrived there in the 1740s, didn’t fare quite so well. So toilsome were their efforts at building a life in this hilly, wooded frontier that they saw fit to name their founding village “Suffrage”. One can only imagine that, for these struggling pioneers, a time when their hamlet would enjoy comfort and convenience seemed impossibly distant.

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Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 64” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

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