A Bridge to the Future at The Barn Yard

Sponsored by The Barn Yard

The showcase location of The Barn Yard in Ellington, Connecticut, has long been a shed shopper’s paradise. But the next time you visit, you may also want to pack a lunch and linger for a while at the newest “old” landmark in town.

When the property next door to their Ellington location went up for sale, brothers Chris and Everett Skinner — members of the company’s third generation of family leadership — recognized both an opportunity and a challenge.

Acquiring the additional space would allow their business to grow its display of sheds and storage buildings into the largest anywhere in New England. Before that vision could be realized, though, there was a problem to be addressed: The two parcels of land were separated by the waters of Belding Brook.

Far from being deterred, the Skinners saw an irresistible project taking shape. “Building a covered bridge had long been a dream of ours,” Everett says, “and this gave us our chance.”

Chris and Everett’s father, Everett Sr., and their grandfather Bill launched the business that would become The Barn Yard almost 40 years ago. He started out with smaller storage buildings, but over the years the company has diversified its lineup to include larger, customized barns and garages. Today, post-and-beam construction projects make up about half the business.

Employing nearly 100 people, The Barn Yard has assembled a top-notch design and fabrication staff and built a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Not only do its crews design, engineer, and construct timber-frame buildings throughout New England, but they’ve also expanded their reach through the marketing of precut timber-frame kits, which can ship out on a single truck to anywhere in the country.

Building a traditional covered bridge is a complicated project, and this one was about a year in the works. “The bridge project created an opportunity to show our customers the level of quality we’re able to deliver in our custom building projects,” Everett says. “There are qualifications that a covered bridge has to meet to be considered authentic and included on the official register of bridges. Our goal was to make it into the register.”

They settled on a 56-foot span, built according to a design patented by Connecticut-born architect Ithiel Town back in 1820. Called the Town Lattice Truss, it features a series of crossed beams connected by oak pegs and traditional joinery, rather than by nails or screws.

The Douglas fir timbers for the bridge project were shipped in from the West Coast. The company’s shop crew spent a few weeks fabricating and cutting every piece to exact specifications.

“Our facilities here gave us some tremendous advantages over how this work would have been done a century ago,” Everett says. “What our equipment could do in four or five days might have taken four or five months [back then]. There’s a lot less hammer and chisel work.”

The sections of the bridge were assembled, then lifted into place by a crane. “We made an event of it when the bridge went up,” Everett says. “The entire town came out to watch, as the sides were set and the whole bridge was raised into place. That was a fun day.”

Because their goal was to create a bridge that looked as if it had been there for years, all of the exterior siding was done with reclaimed antique wood. The ramps leading up to the bridge were constructed of reclaimed granite cobbles from the streets of Boston.

To enhance the area and encourage visitors to linger, a pond and picnic tables were added. “We tried to make every detail count,” Everett says. “We are really happy with how it turned out, and very proud to say that every component of this bridge was manufactured right here in Connecticut, by Connecticut employees — from the engineers and designers to the fabricators and laborers.

“We pride ourselves on having a building to fit anyone’s needs, and our Ellington location has really become our showplace. We’re a destination business. People come here from all over. Now the bridge is a big part of that. But beyond that, it is a landmark for the community. And that is a great feeling.”

Although they may have started out thinking of the bridge as a stand-alone custom-building challenge, it now becomes one more structure added to The Barn Yard’s ever-expanding repertoire. “After seeing what we’ve done here, many people have expressed interest,” Everett says. “So I’d say this almost certainly will not be the last bridge we are responsible for.”

See How the Bridge Was Built!

This video details the entire build process of the new landmark in Ellington, Connecticut, and includes many individuals at The Barn Yard who talk about their roles in the making of the covered bridge. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the authentic timber framing used throughout this Town Lattice Truss covered bridge that was added to the official register of bridges.