Ground Barn
The distinguishing feature of a "ground barn" is that it is not banked; in other words, there is only access at ground level. Ground barns are built of fieldstone or timber frame. The term is a general one. The early ground barn in southeastern Pennsylvania is often called a grundscheier; it has a tripartite plan with the interior organized crosswise to the roof ridge. A very slight ramp leads to a large central door in the eaves side. The "ground barn" operated on the same principle as the English barn and served a small-scale diversified grain and livestock economy. Within Gettysburg National Park many have been preserved, suggesting that ground barns were once much more common than they are today.
Casper Maul Ground Barn, Berks County, 1796
Frame Ground Barn, Adams County, 19th century
Note
This is a static, archived version of the PHMC Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project website which will not be updated. It is a snapshot of the website with minor modifications as it appeared on August 26, 2015.
Pages in this Section
- Overview
- House Types
- Barn Types
- Barn Features
- Outbuilding Types
- Overview
- Bake Oven
- Butcher House
- Carriage House
- Cider House
- Combination Structure
- Cook House
- Corn Crib
- Dryhouse
- Fruit Cold Storage
- Garage
- Grain Bin
- Granary
- Greenhouse
- Hay Drying Shed
- Hog House
- Horse Barn
- Ice House
- Machine Shed
- Maple Sugar House
- Milk House
- Packing House
- Potato Storage Cellar
- Poultry Housing
- Privy
- Roadside Stand
- Root Cellar
- Scale House
- Shed
- Silo
- Smokehouse
- Spray Shed
- Springhouse
- Summer Kitchen
- Wagon Shed
- Wash House
- Wood Shed
- Worker Housing
- Workshop
- Landscape Elements
- Archaeological Features