Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings Of New England

Plot

"This book, about the buildings farmers made, traces the historical development of connected farm buildings, as architectural form common in rural New England. This is primarily a book of detailed architectural analysis, but it is also a cultural study. Buildings are seen as an expression of their culture and can be interpreted to reveal insights about the people who made them and the reasons they made them. There are three parts: Part I provides an overview of connected farm buildings; Part II, the main body of the text, analyzes connected farms according to patterns of construction, usage, and change over time; and Part III explains why connected farms were built. This three-part organization follows an architectural logic in which building analysis precedes the explanation of historical development."--Preface, page ix.