12-Sided Barn Has A Turntable Floor

12-Sided Barn Has A Turntable Floor AG WORLD You’ve never seen anything like the Walbridge barn just outside the small village of Mystic Quebec Built in 1881 of wood and metal by Alexander Solomon Walbridge and renovated in 2009 it features a sawtooth appearance with 12 sides and 12 matching gabled roofs The barn contains a basement holding free-roaming livestock and two higher levels to access the multiple hay lofts around the outer walls Hay and straw were stored in these lofts and forked down to feed livestock A unique feature was a center-rotating turntable floor with a rail around the edge A horse-drawn hay wagon could drive onto the turntable which could then be turned to one of the 12 mow sections to offload the wagon Once empty the horse and wagon would be turned to face the door making it simple to exit “Walbridge was an inventor at heart ” says Mona Beaulac Executive Director of the Museum Missisquoi “Next to the barn he had a foundry on a small stream with a water pumping station to move the turntable If the stream was too low it could be turned manually with handles Unfortunately we don’t have the plans of the barn and parts of the turntable are missing but different kinds of gears and straps are still there to make it turn It was left abandoned for several years in disrepair until it was renovated so we don’t know exactly how everything originally worked ” Walbridge had worked in the railroad industry before immigrating to Canada and it’s believed the idea for the design came from 12-sided railway roundhouses in West Virginia The Museum Missisquoi rents the barn from the Walbridge Foundation and features it in their local tours Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mona Beaulac Museum Missisquoi 2 Rue River Stanbridge East Quebec Canada J0J 2H0 ph 450-248-3153; info@museemissisquoi ca; www museemissisquoi ca

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