Charles Fish Barn Raising Program

Raising the Charles Fish Barn
Bents A & B
Bent C
Bent D
Bent E
Bent F
As of May 14, 2005

Completed Frame

Completed Barn

Kids Activities

Kids and Pegs

The barn, a 19th century English-style structure that once stood on Federal City Road, will become the centerpiece of the farm's 5,000 square foot Visitor Center, the first phase of which was completed in 2003. In keeping with its goal of preserving skills and practices that helped shape Mercer's past, the farm invited the public and local schools to help raise the barn on Saturday, May 14.

Standing 30' tall, the 32' x 60' barn is the largest ever raised by the farm, and the first, full-scale frame erected with the help of visitors. Built about 1850 and owned for several decades by Charles Fish of Hopewell, the 5-bay, oak frame barn will become the multi-purpose wing of the Visitor Center. When completed, it will be used for public programs, exhibits, workshops, and for new and expanded programs for school groups.

Besides the pubic program series, the farm offered local schools an opportunity to participate by making and signing oak pegs that now hold the barn frame together. Participants harvested materials for the pegs in the farm's woodlot and used period tools and techniques to shape the pegs. Student carpenters drove their pegs into the barn during a special ceremony held on Barn Raising Day, May 14. The "BarnPegs" project was funded by The Friends of Howell Farm and a grant from The History Channel's Save Our History program.

"It's exciting to think that in a year or so, we will be welcoming children to the farm in a barn they helped build," said School Program Coordinator Susan DeVore. "Because it's nearly identical in design to our working barn, it will be a perfect place to show people how English barns were made. Every sill, column, post and beam will be visible. And we won't have to move cows and horses to see them!"

The relocation of the barn is an excellent example of adaptive re-use of an historic structure, explained Farm Curator Dorothy Washburn.  "But it is also the preservation of a skill because historically, farmers sometimes moved barns that were still serviceable. The west end of the Henry Phillips barn was moved twice before it was attached to the farm's working barn."

Discussions about moving the barn to Howell Farm date back to the mid-1990s when Mercer County acquired the barn as part of the property purchased for the Park Commission's planned Equestrian Center. But due to the barn's poor condition, it was sold to the New Jersey Barn Company, a Princeton company specializing in dismantling, restoring and re-erecting antique barn frames. During the 1999 planning process for the Howell Farm Visitor Center, the County's interest in the Fish barn was rekindled. A proposal to use the barn for the center materialized in 2004 when the Park Commission hired the Barn Company to re-erect the frame and Pickell Architecture to design the finished building.

Besides preserving an important part of Mercer County 's history and heritage, the barn raising project has fostered a unique recycling effort within the Park Commission. With the help of park managers and the county's naturalist, the farm was able to collect hurricane-damaged trees from various parks and have them custom-milled for use in the Fish barn and other restoration projects.

Special Preliminary Activities

In preparation for the May 14 raising of the historic Charles Fish barn , the Farm hosted a series of special events, free to the public.  The Saturday events ran from 10:00am to 4:00pm in addition to the regular Howell Farm Saturday programs.

Saturday, February 19: Logging Day
    Visitors cut and hauled timbers for the barn in the woodlot.

Saturday, March 19: Logs to Lumber: Sawmilling and Shingle Milling Day
    Visitors saw beams, rafters and shingles cut from logs with sawmills.

Friday, April 1: New Jersey Barns - Talk and Slideshow - 7:30 to 9:00pm
    Presented by the New Jersey Barn Company in the Visitor Center.  Internationally known barn restorers and authors Elric Endersby and Alex Greenwood presented an hour-long talk and slide show that focused on New Jersey's historic barns, including the Charles Fish Barn.

Saturday, April 30: Timberframing and Blacksmithing Workshops
    The workshop was led by restoration carpenters of The New Jersey Barn Company and the Timber Framers’ Guild. Materials made in the workshop were used in the frame of the Charles Fish barn.  Introduction to Timber Framing was a “learn-by-doing” workshop that gave participants skills and knowledge needed to make a simple timber frame building. Participants learned square rule layout of joinery, how to make mortises and tenons, and much more.

Saturday, May 14: Barn Raising Day
    Visitors watched, and some participated in, the barn frame assembly and raising.  Everyone enjoyed the crafts, food, wagon rides, and music.

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