Field guide

What kind of barn is yours?

Walk around it once. The roof, the foundation and the big doors tell you when it was built and whose tradition it came from.

Seven things to look at

Roof Two flat slopes (gable): English, bank or transverse barn. Two pitches per side (gambrel): a late-1800s or 1900s hay or dairy barn. Round, cone-shaped or many-sided: a round barn, mostly 1880–1920. A raised center section: a monitor barn. A half-round metal arch: a Quonset, after 1941. A shallow roof on posts: a pole barn, after World War II.[1][2][3][4][5]
Built into a hill? If a ramp or the hillside lets a wagon drive onto the upper floor, it is a bank or basement barn.[6][7]
An overhang? If the upper floor sticks out over the lower wall on the downhill side, that is a forebay: a Pennsylvania German bank barn.[6][2]
Where are the big doors? On the long side, under the eaves: an English barn. On the gable end: a transverse or three-portal barn.[5][8]
How is it framed? Heavy timbers joined with pegs: an older timber frame. Paired 2-inch planks spiked together with an open loft: a plank frame, about 1900 on. Light boards and nails: balloon framing. Posts set in the ground: a pole barn.[9][10][11]
Lots of windows and a concrete floor? Rows of windows, roof ventilators, gutters and stanchions mean a dairy barn.[7][11]
A hood at the peak? A hay hood or a track under the ridge dates the barn to the hay-fork and sling years.[7][9]

Many barns were added to and changed over the years, so one barn can show signs of more than one era.

The barn types

Oldest to newest. The pictures are Flatland Farms engraved plates, our artwork for each era.

Flatland Farms engraved plate XIII, Eighty Acres

About 1790–1840

English three-bay barn

One story, three bays, the big doors on the long side.

Flatland Farms engraved plate I, The Home Place

About 1810–1880 and later

Pennsylvania German bank barn

Built into a hill, with an overhang on the downhill side.

Flatland Farms engraved plate V, Hay to the Rafters

Late 1800s into the 1900s

Transverse frame and three-portal barn

Wagon doors on the gable end, an aisle down the middle.

Flatland Farms engraved plate XV, Round Barn

Mostly 1880–1920

Round and polygonal barns

Round, eight-sided or twelve-sided, often with a silo in the middle.

Flatland Farms engraved plate XIII, Barn in Winter

Late 1800s–1900s

Gambrel-roof hay barn

The classic two-slope roof that holds a mountain of hay.

Flatland Farms engraved plate IX, First Harvest

Early 1900s

Dairy barn

Rows of windows, roof ventilators, a concrete floor.

Flatland Farms engraved plate VII, Five Acres and a Barn

After World War II

Pole barn and Quonset

Posts in the ground, or a rounded metal arch.

Flatland Farms engraved plate XVII, Barn Quilt

2001 to today

Barn quilts

A painted quilt square hung on the gable.

Is there a barn like this in your family?

Barn of the Month opens January 1, 2027. Tell us about it now, free, and we will email you the day entries open.

Nominate a barn Record its story

Sources

Where these facts come from

Facts checked October 2026 and written in our own words. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us through the Barn Letter form and we will fix it. The engraved plates are Flatland Farms artwork, not historic photographs.