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Traditional:
Single- and Double-Crib Hewn
Log Barns
Crib is the architectural term for a barn's basic unit.
Farmers refer to the same thing as a pen or stall. The
single-crib barn was simply one square or rectangular crib with a gable
roof. It was commonly of hewn log construction and was used for grain
storage as well as stabling of animals. Only two examples of the log
single-crib barn are found in Morgan County.
This hewn log single-crib
barn, built in the 1840s, is found in Monroe Township.
The single crib was a
building block used to make larger double-crib and four-crib barns. Both
used the single-crib barn as the basic unit and simply added additional
cribs in two distinct configurations.
The double-crib barn consisted of two cribs
which shared a gable roof, with a breezeway separating the two cribs. The
four-crib barn had cribs at each corner with a common roof and intersecting
aisles that formed a cross. Both types were commonly of log construction.
Only one example of a log double-crib barn—on Olive Church Road in Ray
Township--is found in Morgan County.
Log double-crib barn, c.1850, Olive Church Road, Ray Township
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Click on Painting for an enlarged image |
Watercolor of the same barn by Ann McDaniel. Ann's perspective is the
barn's short end, rather than its broad side.
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