Barnyard Trail: Old Shop

The Old Shop was once used to store grain, and later as a workshop.

NPS/Sucena

Constructed in the early 19th century, this structure was originally used as a granary, used to store grains like wheat and rye that were harvested on the site. As farming became less important at the William Floyd Estate, this building was converted into a workshop for Charles H. Ross. Windows were cut into the structure to let light into the old shop, as boxes for tools and nails began to litter the space. 

Over his 37 years at the Floyd Estate, Ross experienced the changes of the estate, from the decline of the working farm to the use of the estate for gathering friends and family together in the summer sunshine. He spent much of his time here building and repairing the equipment he needed to manage livestock. For Cornelia Floyd Nichols, the shop became forever associated with Charles Ross. She reflected: 

“There were countless broken things being kept seven years to ‘come in handy’, and handy they did come in for Ross. He could make anything out of anything, from ‘springes to catch woodcock’ or a figure 4 rabbit trap to the set of furniture made of crooked cedar branches which we found at the end of a snowy winter.   

“Though rainy days in the shop were fun it's true character came out with sunshine. One door opened to the barnyard, the other to the old garden behind the house… 

“From the garden came the long, straight line of insect sounds, behind you the shir-r-r of the grindstones as Ross’ foot on the treadle held the rhythm. Sometimes he would let you help by tipping the can of water suspended over the whirling stone. It was cool in the shop. There was so much sunshine outside that it lighted every corner yet never seemed to really come in. You looked out from coziness through the garden door to radiance, just as you looked out on the world through your eyes from your inside mind.”