Outbuildings

Thomas Lincoln Casey wrote in his 1881 “Historical Sketch of the Casey Farm” that on the property he inherited in 1855 he had built “a carriage-house and wood-shed, the roof of the ice-house, a new corn-crib, pig-house, a new well-curb, and other out buildings…”

Of those we can identify, the carriage house is now used as a repair shop, the ice house roof (meaning it covered a cellar hole for cold storage) was raised and another carriage bay was built on top. That building was converted into a small kitchen for the farm teachers to have a break area that we call “the grill.” The woodshed was the perfect size to convert into an accessible public restroom in the early 1990s.

Silas Casey’s account books from the late eighteenth century refer to renting “small houses” to hired farmhands. Could those be the two little buildings that were moved some time later and attached to the early twentieth century horse barn? The little buildings provide extra office space for managing our education programs (called “the old office”) and the horse barn is often used for teaching about farm life. The horse barn, though we haven’t stabled horses for decades, stores animal feed, farm equipment, and teaching tools. Best of all, young animals are raised here before they are old enough to stay outside, and this is Violet and Verbena the barn cats’ cozy home.

If you are visiting Casey Farm, you can come inside buildings with a staff person, with the exception of the woodshed restroom of course!