Barns of the Genesee Country, 1790 - 1915. Including An Account of Settlement and Changes in the Agricultural Practices.

Quarto, red cloth (hardcover), gilt lettering, photo. illus. endpapers, xvii, [528] pp. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: From the earliest log barns, hand-hewn and no bigger than sheds, to the huge, truss-framed Wells barns with their cathedral-like interiors, barns were, for nearly 200 years, of central importance to the men and women of the Genesee Country. Photographer and historian Daniel Fink in this lively and authoritative study has illuminated the social, economic and architectural history of these barns using contemporary records and original photographs. Here are cobblestone barns, unique to this region; Gothic and Italianate barns, elegantly filigreed to match their owner's houses; polygonal barns, Greek Revival barns and tobacco barns with distinctive multiple louvered doors. Here too is Charles Williamson, who enticed prospective settlers in 1793 with a horse race boasting a first prize of 1000 pounds; Ebenezer "Indian" Allan, who was given the future site of Rochester, New York, on condition he build a grist mill and sawmill on the land; and Jared Boughton, who carried his 1789 wheat harvest on his back to Allan's grist mill, four miles from the nearest road. Throughout the nineteenth century, as the first scattered settlements evolved into prosperous farming communities, expanding markets and increasing mechanization created a continuing need for larger, more efficient and more versatile barns. This dynamic evolution is placed in context with vivid accounts of life in the Genesee Country, including the advent of the railroads and Erie Canal, the rise of dairying and collapse of wheat, and the often litigious beginnings of farm implement manufacture. The book is generously supplemented with contemporary woodcuts, advertisements, first-hand accounts and diaries. The author restored several rare prints, some almost entirely faded, and has made new prints from original glass negatives. Among the many period images is a remarkable series of photographs documenting the relocation of a barn near Lyons, New York. Daniel Fink's scholarship and artistry combine in a major contribution to the architectural history of the ten-county region flanking the Genesee River. As the area's barns continue to disappear, this original and beautiful book will prove increasingly valuable as a record of our heritage. Architecture, New York, Americana, Agriculture, American Culture, Farming Culture, Family History, Genealogy, Genesee Valley, U.S.-iana.…