The Old Stone Cider House was first built in the 1890's in the Pennsylvania bank barn style. It remained in agricultural use, most recently as a dairy barn, until the 1990's. By then it had deteriorated to a point that it was no longer safe to work in.
Barn prior to reconstruction
In 2011 when we began disassembling the barn for reconstruction, we saved as many of the original hand-hewn timbers as possible. To replace rotten or unusable beams, our family collected logs from the farm, many felled in the heavy storms of the summer of 2011. These logs were milled at local sawmills and carved with a mallet and chisel to replace the missing pieces.
The stonework on the foundation was repointed and relaid with the farm's field stone by an Oxford mason, and in the summer of 2013 we raised the beams. A roof, siding, and windows quickly followed and much of the decorative wood you see inside is recycled from the original building.
We're pleased with the fruit of our many years of work on it, and are proud to preserve this part of the local landscape. Many barns of it's age are torn down or fall into disrepair as the local economy changes.