Corker Hill
National Historic Register of Historic Places
Stone-end Barn
The Pennsylvania barn is constructed of a reddish-orange sandstone on its gable ends and rear (bank side) foundation, with frame construction of the forebay, gable peaks, and granaries. The stone gable-end construction, typical of the 19th century barns of the region (see Ensminger barn morphology, Section 8), is pierced by ventilation slits, which are quite narrow on the exterior and widen toward the interior wall. The frame section is sheathed with German lap siding; ventilation openings in the gable peaks and the forebay are tall, narrow louvered vents with decorative pointed architraves; doors are cross-braced. While the stone-end barn design probably dates to the first half of the 19th century, the frame forebay and gable peaks appear to have been renovated in the 1870s (see Jacob Garver Estate citation in Section 8).
Exterior granaries on the rear of the barn, located on either side of the upper story doors, were added after the original construction of the barn as evidenced by seams in the stone foundations. The western-most shed addition sits on a sandstone foundation, its roofline continuous with the original barn roof. Matching louvered vents with decorative architraves indicate that this shed addition dates to the 1870s renovation of the barn. The eastern-most shed addition foundation is constructed of limestone rather than sandstone. The lower-angled shed roof and non-decorative window indicates this addition probably dates to the 20th century ownership of the Mont Alto Orchard Co. The barn roof is sheathed with channeled metal sheets, recently applied.
Off the southeast corner of the barn is a late 19th century frame wagon shed/corncrib. The sides of the building are open-slatted corncribs supporting the roof structure and allowing storage of farm equipment between.
The one-story frame and concrete block orchard warehouse east of the barn is considered a non-contributing element because it dates from the post-1920 ownership of the property by the Mont Alto Orchard Co. It served as a storage and retail facility for the orchard products produced on the farm through much of the 20th century.
East of the barn complex is a c.1870s tenant house. It is a two-story, three bay frame house with vinyl siding. The house has an ‘L’ addition on the north (rear) elevation to which a one story room has been added on the rear. A patio roof extends from the rear of the house to the frame out-kitchen/wash house located behind. The south (front) elevation has a one-story Italianate-influenced entrance porch with decorative brackets and built-in benches.