THEIR FIRST HOMES... (Updated 4/15/2021)

The original log cabins soon became too small for their large families – some might say they provided substandard living at best. They built larger homes – the cabins made good outbuildings for the animals and tools. In some cases the original cabin was enveloped, and a century later the unsuspecting eye would never guess that a log cabin is nestled inside a large Colonial or Victorian structure. The Smith homestead on Sturtevant Hill Road in Readfield is an example of that. The kitchen is the original cabin. (This house was demolished about 2015.)

By the mid to late 19th century it became common in Maine to see farm houses that included a summer kitchen, shed and barn attached to the house creating a "big house, little house, back house, barn" effect. This architectural style, of adding barns attached to the house, summer kitchen and shed, caught on about the time of the mass exodus west, and at the beginning of the agricultural decline in Maine, thus our extended farm buildings are rarely seen in the rest of the USA. The disadvantage was, of course, threat of fire which would destroy the whole farm, and the smells and flies that went with an attached barn. Some of the advantages were easy accessibility to the barn, animals, food storage areas, milk room and sleigh in the winter. Protection from the winter winds both outside and in, added warmth for the animals and shelter for the house – if they planned well they put the ell on the north side. And last but not least an indoor trek to the privy at the back of the barn or shed was huge advantage in cold weather!* Pictured below is an example of this kind of structure. This circa 1790 homestead on Old Kents Hill Road is still standing and has been remodeled/updated but the house exterior still looks much the same. The little house, back house, barn are gone but a three car garage has been added in later years. Also, the house was moved back, further from the road in the 1990s, onto a modern foundation. Was owned and occupied by Woodford & Marie Potter 1945-1980 then remained in the family until 2016.

 

 

If you mention a dooryard in another part of the country chances are they will not know to what you are referring. Extended farm buildings boasted three yards. The front yard by the parlor where special guests were greeted; the barn-yard where men could be found doing farm chores; the door yard, by the shed or summer kitchen, where women did laundry, planted and tended their kitchen garden and did other woman's work. Neighbors often made "door yard calls" – brief stops as they passed by – so to not disrupt a farm wife’s busy schedule with a lengthy visit.

 

As you drive through Readfield and neighboring towns take note of the surviving big house, little house, back house, barns. They are disappearing slowly but surely. Someday they will be remembered only through pictures and stories – like the rustic log cabins of long ago! 

* "Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn" by Thomas Hubka, is a fascinating study of this architectural evolution, unique to northern New England. Pub. 1984 by University Press of New England; 225 pages. Contains dozens of illustrations, indexed and extensive bibliography is included.