Saving the History of Timber Framing in CT:
One barn at a time...

Vince Scamporino, Regional Sales Manager for Timberpeg East, has had a long love affair with timber framing. It began in the late 1970's when Vince purchased a house in East Haddam, CT. The property had two old timber framed barns, one with hand hewn beams which pre-dated even the 1850 Federal style main house.

As Vince explains, "When I sold that property, I ended up building a Timberpeg® home. To me it represented the best of both worlds: The enduring beauty of the old timber framing techniques and the advantages of energy efficiency and, contrary to my 1850 Federal...it had windows that actually open! My interest in and appreciation for the current timber framing industry is a direct result of my early experiences owning and renovating that property."

So when the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation advertised in the local paper a workshop to recruit volunteers for a "barn project," Vince was eager to sign up. The goal of the project is to capture the old barns in photographs and survey data before they are lost to development or decay. This way, future generations will have detailed information about these historic and functional structures that spotted the land and helped to shape the economy and society of early Connecticut.

Vince's involvement so far has largely been through photography. As Vince says, "It is fun doing the photography, but there are some rules that have to be followed. Most of these barns are on private property and we are instructed not to trespass. This often means pictures have to be taken from a distance, most often from the shoulder of the road. This is particularly frustrating because the most fascinating aspects of barns are their interiors and they are "off limits" as part of this survey." -

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