Old Stone Barn's History
1805
Construction
The Old Stone Barn in West Falmouth is thought to be constructed around 1805/6. It was a barn on two levels, built into a slope, with large barn doors to the east and smaller entrances on both the north and south on the lower level. Cattle and sheep were kept there. The barn belonged to the wooden colonial house at 306 Old Main Road, two doors down, the oldest parts of which were built in the 1790’s.
1812
Cannon?
There’s a rumor that the barn was hit by a cannonball in the War of 1812, never documented.
Neighbors
The house next door with the brick facade facing the barn, at 304 Old Main Road, was built by the children of the original owner, and the stone barn became theirs.
1860's
Cattle Barn
There’s a picture of railroad workers with longhorn cattle using the barn in the 1860’s when the track between Boston and Woods Hole was built adjacent to the house (now the Shining Sea Bike Path). Livestock were kept in the barn through the 1940s, though in later years the roof had failed and by the 1930’s, only the lower level was still in active use for sheep.
1930's
Home Conversion
The barn was converted into a home by an ad executive from New York and his wife who used to summer in West Falmouth during the 30’s with his family- they rented a summer apartment on the 2nd floor of the brick house next door. The children were forbidden to play in the crumbling barn, which of course was the best location for games.
1940's
Post-War Reconstruction
The barn was converted into a house after WWII, and the concrete blocks veranda was built at that time. Because materials were hard to come by after the war, they were salvaged from other sites for the reconstruction. For example, the dark oak floor in the living room reportedly came from the home of James Cagney on Marthas Vineyard which was being remodeled during the 1940s. Cagney had an estate at Chilmark, but also a house in Edgartown.
1960's
History of Owners
Only three families have ever owned the barn as a house. The Degens Family moved there in the 1960's when Egon Degens became a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
1980's
Granite Column
The granite column was a later addition -- it was salvaged by Philipp Degens in the 1980s from a construction dump site in the Boston area where the column pieces were slated to be reduced to gravel. The column was erected by Sam Raymond, local inventor and long-time resident of the house. Research suggests that the column may have originally been much taller when it stood as part of the old North Station in Boston before it was renovated in the 1920s.
