The Kuykendall Polygonal Barn was an early 20th-century

polygonal In geometry, a polygon () is a plane (mathematics), plane Shape, figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its ''edge (geometry), edges'' or ''sides''. The p ...

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

in the

South Branch Potomac River The South Branch Potomac River has its River source, headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia, near Hightown, Virginia, Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of ,U.S. Geological Survey. Nationa ...

valley near Romney in Hampshire County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States. The Kuykendall Polygonal Barn was the only 15-sided barn built in West Virginia, and one of only a few such known to have been constructed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The barn utilized a number of sophisticated technological innovations not found in West Virginia's other round and polygonal barns. The Kuykendall Polygonal Barn was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on 9 July 1985.

History

The Kuykendall farm is one of the oldest in Hampshire County. Part of a land grant made by

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (22 October 16939 December 1781) was a British-born planter. The only member of the British peerage to permanently reside in British America, Fairfax owned the Northern Neck Proprietary in the Colony ...

to Henry Van Meter in 1749, the property then passed to Abraham Van Meter in 1804, to William Millar in 1833, to Thomas French and George Stump in 1845, to James Stump in 1870, and then to Robert White, trustee to James Sloan in 1879. Sloan passed the farm to his daughter Hannah, wife of William Kuykendall, in 1882. The property remained in the Kuykendall family until 1966 when C. Ellis Hood of Woodsboro,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

purchased the farm from the estate of Edith Kuykendall. The farmhouse on the property dates from the mid-18th-century. The Kuykendall Polygonal Barn was built around 1906 by the Kuykendall family on their farm. The chief carpenter in its construction was John Clowser. The barn collapsed during a storm in 2005. Restoration efforts are on hold.

History

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See also