Wooden Pennsylvania Barn Near Mt. Holly Springs

Many of the very old barns in the area are stone but the ones built about seventy five to a hundred years ago are wood. This is a beautiful example of one of those wooden barns. It is located near Mt. Holly Springs. These were two story buildings with the cattle on the ground floor and the hay and straw on the second. When these barns were built (before bailing) hay and straw was stored loose and took lots of space. Usually hay was on one side of the doors, straw on the other. The angled ramp to get the wagons into the barn is called a barn bridge. Note the small foot access door to the left of the main doors that were opened to push in loaded wagons. An overhead pulley with a vicious claw was used to pick the hay off the wagon and store it.