This post is part of a series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Twenty. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is to come.
The subscription window that includes Issue Twenty is open now.
To get Issue Twenty when it ships in early April, you can sign up for a subscription here.
If you aren’t sure about your subscription status, you can reach out to Grace at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com. Keep in mind though, if you are set to auto-renew, you never have to worry about getting the next issue of Mortise & Tenon. Issue Twenty is coming your way soon!
___________________________________
Michael Updegraff – “Bargain Barn: Yankee Thrift & Relocating Old Structures”
“I did it my way” might have been a tune whistled by a typical New England farmer back in the day as he went about his work. Never ones for following convention, those hardy folks survived and sometimes thrived in a place of harsh weather conditions and soil that produced as many rocks as crops. One unique way in which Yankee ingenuity and independence revealed itself could be seen in how they juggled their structures around. Maine and New Hampshire barns in the mid-19th century were frequently relocated from one foundation to another, sometimes seemingly as an afterthought or for aesthetic considerations. This practice was apparently no big deal to the homesteaders of the day.
In Issue Twenty, author Michael Updegraff joins in the fine Yankee tradition of barn-moving. A building that once operated as a general store near the M&T shop was on the verge of being demolished, but its owners kindly offered him the chance to move it instead. With his family and a few friends, Updegraff took the structure apart piece-by-piece and moved it, one trailer-load at a time over the course of a few weeks, to his property 30 miles away. Throughout the project, he and his family discovered a number of interesting clues hidden away in the walls, and an unexpected connection with a past owner.
In telling the story of this barn project, Updegraff makes a case for the practice of moving and saving old structures, rather than letting them fall into decay or be demolished. Because of their systems of construction, these buildings often come apart more easily and readily than you might imagine, and the old bones can be more resilient than new construction (at a fraction of the cost). The economic, historic, and aesthetic considerations are real, but the more intangible factors – those numinous, quiet feelings of kinship across centuries – might be the most compelling part of the whole process.
Subscribe now to reserve your copy of Issue Twenty.