Beaver Meadow
Steep-pitch (12:12), single mid-span purlin, knee braces in the lower third. Common 1831–1875 along the headwater tributaries. Eleven examples recorded.
NHI-S-002 · Commissioned Survey
The Ridge Barns Survey.
A four-year measured record of ridge-pole barn construction across the upper northern watershed. Ninety-two structures. Forty-one oral testimonies. Seven framing dialects inside a single drainage.
About the survey
The ridge-pole barn — a gable-framed timber structure carrying a continuous longitudinal ridge-pole across principal bents — is the dominant agricultural building type of the upper watershed. Between 1831 and 1948, carpenters in this territory produced perhaps three thousand such structures. Fewer than three hundred now stand in recognisable form; we project fewer than one hundred and fifty by 2040.
The survey documents ninety-two of the surviving structures to full measured standard. Commissioned by three partner historical societies with matching support from a regional university school of architecture, it is the Initiative's largest single field campaign since the Eastern Townships parish register transcriptions concluded in 2018.
The catalogue — Plates of the Ridge, 1831–1948 — enters binding in late summer and will be released, free of charge, to each participating community library on the anniversary of the founding charter in March 2027.
Anatomy of a ridge-pole barn
The seven framing dialects
Ridge-crown
Moderate pitch (9:12), paired queen posts, distinctive upper-brace geometry meeting the ridge at 60°. Eighteen examples. Largely attributed to the Tremblay–Lapierre carpentry line.
Truncated Ridge
Abbreviated ridge-pole — under four metres — between a pair of king posts. A late dialect, 1905–1940, associated with sawmill-cut members rather than hewn timber. Nine examples.
Long-brace
Extended corner braces running nearly to the top plate, creating a characteristic shallow triangle at each gable corner. Fifteen examples, clustered along the lower river reaches.
King-post Bent
Central king post carrying the ridge directly, with diagonal struts to the tie beam. Thirteen examples. The oldest recorded example (1831, Lot 7, Concession III) is of this dialect.
Double-plate
A secondary upper plate creates a lofted storage level below the ridge. Rare — only six examples, all within a single concession. Considered experimental; none known after 1898.
Scarfed Ridge
A full-length ridge-pole assembled from two timbers joined by a tabled scarf at mid-span, pegged on three draw-bores. Twenty examples — the most common dialect in the sample, spanning the full 1831–1948 range.
Selected case records
NHI-S-002 / 014
New
Barn at Lot 22, Concession IV (Beaver Meadow Road)
- Built
- c. 1867
- Dialect
- Beaver Meadow
- Footprint
- 9.8 m × 14.6 m (32' × 48')
- Principal timber
- Hewn white pine, local
- Condition
- Stable; roof replaced 2014, framing sound
- Testimony
- One session (R. Morin, b. 1934), 2023
Originally a dairy barn, converted to dry-hay storage in 1961 and held in that use through the present. The hewing on the north wall plate preserves an apprentice-mark cut twice (correction struck through the first), taken by the survey as evidence of the Pérec lineage's training practice.
NHI-S-002 / 031
The Hollister Home Barn
- Built
- 1883 (dated timber, north gable)
- Dialect
- Ridge-crown
- Footprint
- 11.0 m × 18.3 m
- Principal timber
- Hewn hemlock; plates of sawn pine
- Condition
- Good; sill partial replacement 2019
- Testimony
- Four sessions, NHI-O-003 series
The barn whose 1986 near-demolition gave rise to the original working group. Surveyed four times over the Initiative's history; the 2023 measured record supersedes all earlier drawings. Held by a descendant family in continuing agricultural use.
NHI-S-002 / 057
Barn at Lot 7, Concession III
- Built
- 1831 (dated)
- Dialect
- King-post Bent
- Footprint
- 7.6 m × 12.2 m
- Principal timber
- Hewn white pine and tamarack
- Condition
- Poor; roof failure on south slope, east gable stable
- Testimony
- Two sessions, 2022
The oldest dated structure in the sample. The building has not been in agricultural use since the 1970s; present ownership and the partner historical society are in consultation on stabilisation. Full laser-scan photogrammetry completed August 2024 as a preservation record against possible loss.
NHI-S-002 / 078
The Truncated Barn at Mill Road
- Built
- c. 1922
- Dialect
- Truncated Ridge
- Footprint
- 8.5 m × 11.0 m
- Principal timber
- Sawmill-cut spruce
- Condition
- Fair; cladding replacement recommended
- Testimony
- One session (J. Boucher, b. 1941), 2024
A late, mill-sawn example whose short ridge (3.6 m) is characteristic of the dialect's economy of material. The oral testimony specifies that the building was raised over two Saturdays in May by eleven men and a team of horses, with a third Saturday given to cladding.