Foster Farm Barn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Foster Farm Barn
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | 538 Augusta Rd., Belgrade, Maine |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | c. 1905 |
| NRHP reference No. | 15000768 |
| Added to NRHP | November 9, 2015 |
The Foster Farm Barn is an old dairy barn located at 538 Augusta Road in Belgrade, Maine. It was built around 1900 to 1910. This barn is special because it shows how farming changed from growing many different things to focusing mainly on dairy cows. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, which means it's an important historical building.
About the Foster Farm Barn
The Foster Farm Barn is found on a property called Winterberry Farm. This farm is in northern Belgrade, on the east side of Augusta Road (Maine State Route 27). You can find it just south of where Point and Guptil Roads meet.
The barn sits behind a farmstand where people buy things. It is also north of the old farmhouse, which was built around 1900.
What Does the Barn Look Like?
The Foster Farm Barn has two stories. It is made from strong wooden beams, a style called timber-frame. The roof has a special shape called a gambrel roof.
The barn is quite large, about 70 feet long and 41 feet wide. It shows building methods that were popular after the American Civil War. It also has modern features for dairy farming from the early 1900s.
These modern features include concrete troughs for manure. There are also special slats in the walls for air to move through. Ducts help air flow to vents in the roof. The lower part of the barn has original wooden shingles. The upper walls are unfinished, showing the wood underneath.
Why Is This Barn Special?
The Foster Farm Barn was built by brothers Frank and Edgar Foster. Their parents had farmed this land since the late 1850s. The brothers might have used money from an inheritance to build the barn and the farmhouse.
This barn was very different from older barns in New England. Those older barns usually held only a few animals. In 1902, the Foster brothers had a dairy herd of fifteen cows. They also had two horses, two oxen, and two pigs. The inside of the barn was clearly set up for a dairy farm. This shows how farming was becoming more specialized.
