For anyone who has ever admired a barn on an old country lane, this is the story of that barn and many others in Southeastern Pennsylvania, or, specifically, "the hearth." the area east of the Susquehanna River and South of the Blue Mountains. One of the earliest-settled areas in North America, this region of the Keystone State, which includes Lehigh, Bucks, and Lancaster Counties, is home to an astounding 20,000 standing barns, in various states of repair, built from the late 1700s on. Discussed in this text are the primary factors that have determined the fundamental structures and appearances of the six great barn classifications, including forest resources. Other featured topics are architectural aspects and regionalisms, dates of construction, survival of 18th-century examples, mysterious decorations, and barn preservation. Completing this treatise are representative colour photographs, building plan sketches, charts conveying the prevalence of types, and a glossary of barn terms. AUTHOR: Greg Huber is a barn and house historian, consultant, and owner of Past Perspectives and Eastern Barn Consultants ? historic cultural resource companies. Huber has specialized in house and barn architecture of Holland Dutch and Pennsylvania Swiss-German culture areas that include more than 8,000 vernacular houses and barns. He has authored more than 210 articles on architecture and is co-author of two books ? the second edition of The New World Dutch Barn (2001) and Stone Houses ? Traditional Homes of Pennsylvania's Bucks County and Brandywine Valley (2005). He has also led 60 tours and given more than 180 lectures on architecture in the past 25 plus years. He won the Alice Kenney award and the Allen Noble Book Award issued by the Pioneer America Society. 286 colour and b/w photos and charts
