Photos & Text By: Maria Moore
Ever since we heard the Bakerville Barn was to be dismantled this past spring, our photographer has been making frequent trips to the intersection of Cedar Lane and Route 202 to record the disappearance of the Barn. Not easy trips to make, since with each trip she found less and less of the Barn standing until finally, this past week, there was nothing left, except the iron wheel that long ago had powered one of the businesses that had thrived in that Barn. And it seemed that on every trip, there would be someone else taking photographs, or walking up to the barn, or stopped momentarily in their vehicle at the red lights, each commenting on how sad it was to see the big Barn go while acknowledging it had only been a matter of time, standing as it did only a few feet from the busy highway…
Following is a record of the Barn in its last days.
Fall of 2009
The Bakerville Barn, a familiar sight on Route 202 (Litchfield Turnpike), in the Fall of 2009
December 3, 2009
A familiar view of the Barn traveling east on Route 202 (Litchfield Turnpike) with the blacksmith shop in front of it
June 9, 2011
Waiting at the red light at the end of Cedar Lane on June 9, 2011
June 15, 2011
The Barn as seen from Route 202 (Litchfield Turnpike) going west on June 15, 2011
The workers carefully dismantling the Bakerville Barn on Wednesday afternoon, June 15
A worker dismantling the third floor of the Bakerville Barn which was used as a community center/dance hall during the mid-20th century
June 25, 2011
The Barn, with two of its three stories dismantled, as seen from Knipe Road on June 25, 2011
The side of the Barn with the late afternoon sun shining through it, June 25, 2011
The late afternoon sun illuminates the last window with glass on the eastern side of the Barn, June 25, 2011
The stove on the third floor of the Barn is still in place while the building is dismantled around it, June 25, 2011
The back of the Barn from Cotton Hill Road, June 25, 2011
June 30, 2011
The Barn's presence is almost erased in this view from Cedar Lane, June 30, 2011
Just the framing remains in this view of the Barn from Route 202 looking west, June 30, 2011
The Barn as seen from the crosswalk on the other side of Route 202, June 30 2011
The Barn doors refer back to the building they were part of, June 30, 2011
With the siding gone, the machines on the ground floor are exposed, June 30, 2011
Detail of the machines inside the Barn, June 30, 2011
July 6, 2011
The Barn is no longer part of the landscape in this view from Route 202 going west, July 6, 2011
Girls wait for the light to change at the crossing, with the empty landscape behind them where the Barn used to dominate the surrounding countryside, July 6, 2011
The blacksmith shop on the corner of Cotton Hill Road and Route 202 (Litchfield Turnpike) wiithout the reassuring presence of the Barn behind it, July 6, 2011
Looking down Cedar Lane very little evidence remains of the barn that used to dominate the intersection, July 6, 2011
Note: Images and comments from our readers will be added to Bob “the techie’s” video of the presentation by Bill Hosley on the history of the Bakerville Barn/Mill/Tannery, as well as to this photojournal. Please email your photos and special memory that you’d like to have included to newhartfordplus@gmail.com, or by snail mail to NewHartfordPlus, PO Box 667, New Hartford.
