Coop at Hensley's Settlement in Cumberland Gap National Park

[OutInTheStiks]

This past Sunday, we took a hike to the Hensley's Settlement in the Cumberland Gap National Park. It was a ten mile round trip and we were exhausted, but it was well worth it. One of the more interesting buildings was this chicken coop. The interior contained only roosts. I found it interesting that the nest boxes were on the outside of the building.


If you are not up to the hike, there is also a shuttle that goes to the Settlement.

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[teach1rusl]

Drat! The images aren't showing up for me. I wanted to hike there years ago, but we had too many other things going on (half of my family are WV Hensley's, so I figured somewhere/somehow, those folks had to be kin...lol). I asked my grandpa, who is 99 now, probably 90 at that time, if he knew anything about it, but he didn't. Was it pretty interesting??? That would make a nice fall trip...

ETA: Okay

I can see the images now!

 

[ottodog]

Wow, that's pretty cool. I'm actually working on my version of a "Chicken Cabin" which will look very much like that one. Just now getting the logs peeled but should be stacking them pretty soon. I'm even using the "Butt & Pass" style like that one.

So the nest boxes aren't accessible from the inside? Also it appears the ground is the floor, and the boards must be covering the space between the logs and ground. I'd thought of doing a stacked stone foundation and back-filling with dirt for the floor.

Very cool pic! If you have any others I'd be interested in seeing more detail.

Chris

 

[Kansaseq]

I love rustic buildings like that. Thanks for posting the pic!

 

[OutInTheStiks]

Quote:
The nest boxes were not accesible from the inside.

There was no real "people" door. Only the small door in front that would require some crawling through.

The floor was a wooden floor at the level of the logs, sitting atop the piers. The vertical boards seem to serve only to keep critters from going under the building.

 

[OutInTheStiks]

Quote:
It was very interesting. Because we hiked it, we walked around on our own. There is no signage to indicate what the various buildings were or who lived there so we had to make educated guesses. A lady I worked with took the tour a couple of years ago. She said a ranger takes you to all the various buildings, tells what they were used for, who used them and answers other questions. We are considering making reservations for the tour so we can hear about the buildings and take my mom along as well.

 

[saxet]

Thanks for posting! (I feel like I just walked into Cades Cove in the Smokey Mountains national park)
Don't you just wonder how many chickens they lost? (No hardware cloth, but probably an ornery ole dog)

I have been wondering for a while now, why in old structures like this, the boards are used vertically. I am sure they came in standard lenghts, but I fail to see how vertical use is more economical than horizontal?

 

[WOT]

the vertical boards are the waste from things such as the barn behind, because it was only a coop it was OK to use vertically as it was only waste. which equals free coop supplies, something we all love still today.

 

[OutInTheStiks]

Quote:
It was a lot like Cades Cove, minus the crowds of impatient tourists who think history and wildlife should be viewed as rapidly as possible from the interior of an air conditioned car.

From my experience in working on the barns on our property, vertical boards shed water better. Think about the grain of the boards. As the boards age and weather the grain becomes more pronounced and begins to make hills and valleys. On a board used vertically the valleys form channels that the water can run down unimpeded. On a horizontal board the valleys form small spots for water to accumulate and soak into the wood eventually causing rot and damage.

The interior framing of the building also affects the direction the sheating runs in. A pole barn will mose often have vertical siding. The poles are vertical, the supports for the siding are horizontal and then the siding is vertical. A stud framed building would be more likely to have horizontal siding because the boards are nailed directly to the studs. Or at least that has been my experience.

 

[HeatherFeather]

Quote:
IME too. Our 1880s farm house is stud (balloon) framed and has horizontal cedar siding (somewhere under many layers, its still there, I've seen it). Our newer barn however has vertical siding, as it is post and beam (pole). Most of the old barns in my area date back to 1850s-90s and are vertically sided.

Nothing around here is as old as that ol coop though. Its gorgeous.

I was thinking about the external nests- the farmer probably woke around 4 or 5 and opened the coop at dawn or just before. The chickens ranged around all day...and hopped in a box when need be. On hot days it may have been hot in the coop, and having nests outdoors could also have meant more eggs not lost to the bushes.

The coop was strictly a night time building.