The Carriage House at La Basse Cour

The Carriage House evokes the time in our farm’s history when draft horses were used to work the land and bring the family into town to visit or to sell their farm goods, in Hobart, about 3 miles away. It is a magnificent two story barn with a beautiful cupola, built in two stages as best we can tell. The ground floor was built when the farm house was built in 1854; we know this because we have a photograph of the farm house and the two main barns which was taken around that time by the original Hanford family. The ground floor is a large open space that stored the horse-drawn farm equipment and the family carriage, and in the back were huge stalls for their huge draft horses. The hay for feeding those hard working animals needed to be stored nearby, it takes a great deal of hay to keep the animals well nourished in winter. So a double high second story was built for that purpose, we think in 1929, since we found signatures by other nearby farmers who likely helped build it and the date on the barn boards of the brideway into that floor from the road.

Since we don’t farm with work horses today, we chose to use the ground floor for Larry’s workshop and the second floor for gatherings, our farm store and our textile studio. It is a grand and very flexible space that we use three seasons of the year, since it has no heat, yet. Along the bridgeway are lovely antique tables and chairs for having teas and gatherings and potlucks, and we have a large pull down screen and projector for films, presentations, and workshops. In a flash it can be turned into a gallery for community art shows, local author readings and book signings, musical performances, and makers’ markets. And of course it spills out into our farm, so visitors can enjoy indoor and outdoor activities.

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