Saw an old barn frame in Vermont that blew my mind

I was driving through rural Vermont last weekend and stopped at this antique barn going through restoration. The whole frame was held together with wooden pegs, no nails at all. I spent like an hour just looking at how they cut the mortise and tenon joints by hand. The guy working on it said it's been standing since 1823. Has anyone else ever worked on a timber frame like that? I'm curious how they figured out the angles without modern tools.

2 comments

2 Comments

charlie_ellis5d ago

You ever just stare at something and wonder how people built stuff without calculators or lasers? I had the same feeling when I helped my uncle take apart an old carriage house in New Hampshire. That thing was from like 1810 and every joint was hand cut, pegs everywhere. The angles they got with just a square and a marking gauge... it's humbling honestly. I spent a whole afternoon just tracing one of the pegs with my finger, trying to picture the guy who carved it 200 years ago.

hill.jade5d ago

Isn't it wild how much care went into just one peg back then? I get what you mean about the humbling feeling, like you're touching a piece of someone's life they'll never know about. It makes you realize how much skill they had with just basic tools and patience.