by Alex Brooks
The big barn across Route 2 from the Fresh Air Home was taken down this week by contractor Dan Sherman and his company D & L Excavation. The roof has been buckling for several years now, and last December Grafton Building Inspector Tom Withcuskey contacted the owner to say that it had to be taken down before it fell down, and the owner, Michael Levy, agreed. Levy put the job out to bid, hired the contractor, and, on Sunday, February 10, it came down.
[private]The barn was built in 1947 for the Fresh Air home. It replaced an earlier barn which had been on the opposite side of the road, next to the Fresh Air Home. That earlier barn burned down in 1945, or possibly earlier.
The barn was built by Percil Corbin and a large crew of workers. The lumber for the barn was supplied by George Gundrum, who had a sawmill on the South Road at that time. Gravel for the project was drawn by Robert Goyer when he was just a lad working for his father.
According to Gunny Gundrum, the long graceful arches which support the roof were put together from many smaller pieces of wood, using a template set up on the deck of the barn and then raised into place.
The barn was used for farming operations by the Fresh Air Home, and urban kids who came there in the summers worked there on some of the farming tasks to learn about rural life.
Subsequently, when the Fresh Air Home ceased operating, the barn and the acreage on the north side of the road were split off from the Fresh Air Home itself.
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