I have recently begun to survey timber frame barns in Rockbridge County, VA. Something that has struck me is the number of frames built between 1906 and 1928. While these dates coincide with the advent of “modern” plan books from the likes of Louden and Radford, I have been unable to locate heavy timber plans from these publishers. Most of what they show are plans using small dimension wood. From my surveys, I have two principal questions:
With the Civil War ending in 1865, why do we see a glut of construction 40 to 45 years later? and,
In an era when light framing is being promulgated as the future in agricultural construction, why are almost all of the surviving examples timber framed?
I understand that I may have answered half my question by limiting my inquiry to “surviving examples”, but there are several large stick built diary barns from this period; and the plan books offer versions of general use barns. Why can I find no example of a general use stick built barn, and what did the farmers do in the intervening 40 – 45 years of agricultural enterprise?