B72 
the remodeled barn 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
August, 1912 
ing, where it makes a 
there was ample 
scope for their tal- 
ents in both direc- 
tions. 
The scheme did 
not develop all at 
once. The family 
had spent their Sum- 
mers for many years 
shelter from the rain. 
The various inter- 
"+, esting “and! Sartisric 
| ou | parts of this Sum- 
i”; mer home were col- 
Windmill lected at different 
times. When the 
family decided to re- 
model the barn and 
in the old place, and f 
the barn had always f 
been the favorite 
spot for play and 
work, because there 
Wis more space, 
more sunlight and 
Work shop 
: R Dining Room 
Band Kilchen | 
/ live in it, they found 
i they had many useful 
and ornamental ob- 
' jects which they had 
| i“ {gathered by a natunal 
\ “process of accumula- 
\ tion, and which were 
more freedom there. 
The girls used it for 
sewing, or painting, 
or practicing. It was fine for picnics and amateur theatri- 
cals, and it meant much more to them than just a barn, long 
before they thought of making their everyday home in its 
old gray walls. 
To be sure the horse and the cow and the chickens lived 
in various parts of the old barn in those days, and the lofts 
were filled with hay, but still there were large possibilities in 
the space that was left. There is a windmill at one end which 
pumps the water for both house and barn. From this wind- 
mill to the barn there is a curious little bridge at about the 
height of the eaves. This bridge has its touch of romance, 
for it was built by the girls’ grandfather, who ran away to 
sea in his youth and then came home and became an archi- 
tect. The bridge is a sort of lookout, and from there one 
can see the ocean and the white sails of fishing boats. Here 
the grandfather could catch glimpses of the sea he had once 
loved so well. The little bridge now serves a double pur- 
pose, as a portico over the front entrance of the barn-dwell- 
One of the ends of the spacious living-room 
Floor plans of the house 
stored in the hay of 
the barn itself. 
Among these treas- 
ures were the diamond-paned windows which came from 
an old church that was being remodeled. Since the win- 
dows were handmade, each one was found to be of a slightly 
different size, much to the despair of the carpenter who set 
them in the barn. 
From another old church, which was torn down, came 
the four wooden columns, hand-carved and colored, which 
have been used in the living-room. An old, oaken church 
settle came from a second-hand shop in New York city. 
The sandstone font, which makes such a delightful foun- 
tain and basin for the birds, came from another old, dis- 
mantled church. ‘his is at the front of the barn under 
the windmill. Valsora Burdock is the child who dabbles 
her hands in the fountain. Like all the neighborhood chil- 
dren she finds many strange and fascinating things in this 
transformed barn. The ornamental iron work, which is at 
the back of the basin and through which the faucet comes, 
concealing the lead pipe, is one of the iron grills or guards 
The drinking fountain by the windmill 
