A Historic Timber-framed Barn Becomes an Outstanding Mountain Home

Overview of the Remmers Dutch Barn

It doesn't get much better than the Remmers Dutch Barn located in Stanely, Idaho. The historic timber-framed barn is an outstanding mountain home with 3,100 square feet of space. This historic New World Dutch Barn was disassembled in the upper Hudson Valley of New York and rebuilt in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, bringing with it a unique history dating back to the Revolutionary War. It is complemented by the owners' found artifacts from the last two hundred years, lending character and style to this already-unique home. A Bike Barn designed with reused, reclaimed, owner-provided Douglas Fir timbers houses all the gear needed for long days playing in the surrounding mountains, including a wash station to keep all that gear ship-shape. It is as at home in the mountains as the active family that lives in it. The following are just some of the different styles of barns you will find.

Dutch Barn

Dutch Barn. Dutch barns are the oldest and rarest types of barns. Common features of these barns include a core structure that is composed of a steep gabled roof, supported by purlin plates and anchor beam posts, the floor and stone piers below. Little of the weight in this style of barn is supported by the curtain wall, which could be removed without affecting the stability of the structure. Large beams of pine or oak bridge the center aisle for animals to provide room for threshing. Entry was through paired doors on the gable ends with a pent roof over them, and smaller animal doors at the corners of the same elevations.

Bank Barn

Bank Barn. The Bank Barn's beginnings started when farmers still needed more room for cattle, and they started building barns based on the traditional Yankee style into the banks and hillsides, which allowed the farmers to add one or two stories to the barn structure. Most commonly this style of barns had entrances on the gable ends, the bank barns had cupolas and clapboards to help with ventilation. The multiple stories in the bank barn would allow for feed and manure to be kept on the base level, along with some cattle.

English Barns

English Barns. The first barns that were built in America came from the design ideas that were brought over from England by the colonists. The English barns were simple, open barn structures that were built with timber-frame construction. The English barns were often windowless, and usually had the entrance doors along the eaves, and didn't have any basement or loft space. This style of barns was inspired by feudal community spaces found in medieval Europe, the barn designs of the colonists were approximately 30 feet by 40 feet with a threshing floor in the center of the barn.

New England/Yankee Barn

New England/Yankee Barn. The New England or Yankee barns emerged from the original English barn designs, but with more to increase the livestock on the farm. In the 19th Century, farming had shifted to having greater livestock production and dairy farming, so these agricultural needs required a new barn style. The New England/Yankee Barn changed the barn entrance and the exit to the gable ends of the building, so the farmers were able to set up animal stables along either long side of the barn.