Underground Railroad Center will preserve 1764 Dutch barn used on a farm worked by enslaved individuals
— Photo from Mary Liz Stewart
This 18-Century Dutch barn in Montgomery County will be dismantled by Tim Rau and reassembled as the entry to the modern Underground Railroad Education Center. Mary Liz Stewart said she “met” Tim Rau through an Enterprise article about him; his grandfather, the late Ev Rau; and the New World Barn Company
To the Editor:
Such a sad account of our New York state Dutch barn timber frames leaving their place of origin as relayed in Noah Zweifel’s Jan. 11 article [“Dutch barn being relocated, leaving behind only its written history,” The Altamont Enterprise, Jan. 8, 2024].
Standing in the presence of those hand-hewn beams brings to life the hands that took them from their form as majestic trees and turned them into the beautiful architectural structures they became.
The Underground Railroad Education Center is committed to preserving this piece of New York state history. It has purchased a Dutch barn timber frame currently standing in Montgomery County.
Built in 1764 and used on a farm that was worked by enslaved individuals, the timber frame will frame the main assembly hall in the Interpretive Center being built by UREC. Working with New World Barn Company based in Altamont, the timber frame will allow UREC to tangibly speak about the institution of slavery in New York State as well as emancipation and freedom.
An additional asset of this timber frame, beyond its historic significance, is the fact that, due to its age, it is free of toxins and carbon, thereby contributing to the zero carbon interpretive center design.
While I am glad to know that the New York state timber frames being shipped out of state will have a continuing life, it would be even better if they could find a new life here where they were “born.”
Mary Liz Stewart
Albany
Editor’s note: Mary Liz Stewart and her husband, Paul Stewart, founded the Underground Railroad Education Center.