Shelburne Farms: Virtual Tour



		The Old Dairy Barn was designed by Robert H. Robertson and completed in 1891 as part of W. Seward Webb’s Hackney horse breeding operation. While the Breeding Barn stabled stud horses, the Old Dairy Barn was built for brood mares (many imported from England). When the horse breeding enterprise folded, the barn was converted to house a herd of 40-50 Jersey cows. In 1952, the now much larger herd of 140 Guernsey, Holstein and Brown Swiss cows, was moved to the modern pole barn, and the Old Dairy Barn continued to be used for agricultural storage. In 1994, Shelburne Farms acquired both the Old Dairy Barn and the Breeding Barn, along with a surrounding 400 acres from the Shelburne Museum. (This portion of the property had been deeded to William and Lila Webb’s eldest son as a wedding gift in 1913 and subsequently donated to the Museum). After the acquisition, the Old Dairy Barn received some structural stabilization, including a temporary new roof and new foundation. The long-range plan for the building is to integrate it into Shelburne Farms environmental education programs as a residential learning center. Under this plan, the Old Dairy Barn will offer meeting space and accommodations for students, educators and families to convene for in-depth programs. The adaptive re-use will embrace ecological design principles and employ lumber harvested sustainably from Shelburne Farms forests.
A future residential learning center for educators, students, and families to convene for in-depth programs.