Old Barn in Northampton

On a neighborhood walk fairly late this afternoon, I caught sight of this barn from the street (the front, out of sight to the right in this view). It is behind the house on the property and far enough in the rear behind trees, that I had not noticed it before.

The front door of the house was open, and I asked the fellow painting the hall if I could photograph the barn. It was fine with him and we talked for a while. In the very large, leafy back yard behind the house, I took various shots of all three old buildings you see here), and this one made it to bliphood. I met other members of his family, and heard estimates of 17C (?) to 18 C for the origin of the buildings--though they have certainly undergone many alterations over the years. For details, view it LARGE.

The property is about three minutes walk from both our former condo and the house just demolished which we expect to rent after it is rebuilt by next spring.

In my conversations at the house, I heard something that's new to me: that the neighborhood was more or less an Italian ghetto. The family that owns this property is from Sicily and acquired it around 1930.

These barns are at most 15 minutes walk from the very center of Northampton, and it's interesting to speculate on how much agriculture they actually supported.