I found this while surfing the net the other night.
You American folks should find this interesting considering the roots of this family.

Oldest barn in Ontario

I think I should like a tour of this place sometime. It's only two hours from me.

It would be interesting to see if this barn was built by Scribe Rule or Square Rule.

That's a very interesting and extensive web site. It illuminates much regarding the questions of culture/ethnicity in your earlier thread about the gambrel plank barn you poked around in earlier.

Pennsylvania, ay? Guess that better defines the immigrant base and crosses off English tying joints (or does it?).

The Schmidt-Dalziel Barn looks like a log building, primarily, which would indicate scribe techniques. It would be interesting to get a peek at the roof framing for more supporting details of scribe. The site says it's the oldest Pennsylvania barn in Canada, never mind Ontario...very cool...

I hadn't realized, but a good number of forum regulars are from Ontario. Some poking around here in the "earliest square rule thread" lead me to a long-ago post by Mark Davidson where he said scribed frames are not found in his area.

Either the Schmidt-Dalziel Barn is an anomaly, or other scribed buildings have simply deteriorated and vanished w/ the passage of time. Ontario looks like a big place. This Schmidt-Dalziel Barn is right outside Toronto, which was likely settled far before the more remote regions. Perhaps this is the area one would find scribed frames...

Nice thread; as is typical, more answers bring more questions.

I would have thought that Quebec would have the oldest barn in canada since it was settled probably 100 years before Ontario.

I think we have enough members to form a TFG Ontario chapter maybe we have enough members for a gtg at the village, u know, to "pick apart" the barn..more eyes the better IMO... lol
Living in Toronto for close to 20 years, it's funny how when visiting this place on school fieldtrips years ago, I had no real interest in the buildings or style of life in the village. Now, many moons later, I'm after that life
life....what a wicked ride....

This would be a great field trip!
Finally, I would get to meet another Timber Framer.

I think the key word in the phrase is "Pennsylvania"... They say the Schmidt-Dalziel Barn is the oldest Pennsylvania (German)-style barn in Canada.

Quebec was settled by the French, so it's kind of apples to oranges.

Don,
My family name immigrated from the New York area into Lower Canada(Quebec)(Odelltown) somewhere in the 18th century. It is posible that some Penneylvania Germans also settled into Quebec much earlier than 1809.
Check out this link
Americans head north

I'd be curious to hear Richard (aka Northern Hewer) Cassleman's thoughts on this. He's a retired curator of Upper Canada Village, and is an expert on the historical timber frames of Ontario. CB.

Ontario Chapter? I'm in. And yes,, I've seen this barn in a book, and guess I didn't register it was at black creek. A rendevous should happen.


dave

I'm not sure but from the web site I think maybe the barn may be off limits right now due to restoration. I will have another look to see if this is so.

Thane

Hello everyone tonight:

Well thanks Daiku for the remarks, I have visited Black Creek village once on a fall trip with staff from UCV and walked the halls of this great barn. What a wonderful structure indeed.

The date though of 1808 is not in my opinion in line with some of the older structures in this area which was setted around 1784 by UEL's from New York state.

Some of the structures from this time frame were moved to UCV during the uprooting of the early settlements along the St.Lawrence River just prior to the flooding to create the Seaway in June of 1961.

It is very hard indeed to put an exact date on the construction of a building, in order to prove its age as most of you probably understand. I have done my share of proving the ages of particular structures because the mandate that I worked under stated that I had to prove within a reasonable doubt the age of any structure that I put forward as one that would fit into the group of building that comprised those already in existance on the UCV site.

In the case of the above barn I suspect that there is written family documentation that backs up the 1808 construction date, something that is very hard to come by indeed but they must have in that case.

The earliest census records only date back to 1867 in this area before that you have to rely on other criteria such as construction details, nails, axe marks, shingles, saw marks (maybe whip sawn) this would really be prior to saw mills in the area and a real plus for dating!

At times the original deeds as they passed from hand to hand might have details that would suggest if such a building had yet appeared on that particular parcel of land.

Proving a date of a particulr structure is very interesting and one that I do miss with enthusiasm but remember with fond memories.

One thing for certain I can honestly say is that any one of the many structures that I reconstructed for UCV over my tenure there had to pass a very rigid scrutiny before it was considered for a permanent home there.

So having said that I would say that the barn above probably in one of the oldest in ontario, but probably not in Canada because Quebec was far older and settled earlier than this area. Dates back to 1600 is possible and even older in some regions of Quebec. You just have to enter old Quebec city and you will see examples of very old structures

I hope that I have helped this thread along

NH

UELs = United Empire Loyalists. Folks who fled the colonies after the American revolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Empire_Loyalist