Ode to the Barn

An early shot of Harold that appeared in Yankee Magazine after finishing the Lewis H. Story.

One of my favorite barn photos taken sometime around Christmas last year by Dan Tobyne.

The barn and Ardelle at night. Photo by Dan Tobyne

Spar making went on right outside of the barn all last spring. Henry Szostek and Bruce Slifer are pictured here.

The barn from the "Periwinkle's side" of the river

Last winter we had 16 inches of ice beneath this snow!

What ever happened to Scary Clown?

One of the best things about Burnham boatyard is the barn. We have never really written much about the barn but it is a huge part of the landscape and the story of the barn is pretty interesting. I am not sure if I have all the details correctly but the barn stood here for many years during the height of shipbuilding when schooners were being built right next to the barn (in the same place where the Ardelle, the Isabella, and the Fame were built this decade) and the barn is featured in many old photographs of Essex. After shipbuilding went into decline, I guess the old barn did, too. The yard was turned into flower beds where Harold's grandmother Ardelle raised prized flowers of all types. It was a beautiful yard, I am told. But, when Harold and his brother and sister were young, his father "Chuckie" began rebuilding the barn. So, sometime in the early 1970s this barn appeared, exactly in the place where it once stood. I think the seed was planted then to begin shipbuilding again, and it worked! It is a great barn...we have even had Thanksgiving dinner in the loft. Every part of it is used and we couldn't do what we do without it!