With tax break, old N.H. barns endure

A restored 19th-century barn at the Tuck Museum. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

HAMPTON, N.H. - Nothing symbolizes New Hampshire's agricultural heritage like a big red barn, and Chet Riley has a beauty. The newly restored 228-year-old agricultural icon looks like a portal to the past. But a dairy herd doesn't shuffle and moo within the pristine structure. It's now used to store vintage automobiles.

These days, antique barns have become an endangered feature of the New England landscape, thanks to development and the high cost of restoration. But there is help available.

"We're losing 400 or 500 barns a year in New Hampshire to deterioration, development, and contemporary farming practices," Riley said recently.

The retired airline pilot spent three years renovating his Exeter Road barn. He repaired a leaky roof, jacked up the 40-by-80-foot agricultural building to repair its foundation, and replaced the window sills. And he's taken advantage of the Granite State's barn tax incentive program to take some of the financial sting out of it.

Approved in 2002 and based on the state's open space easement program, the incentive program allows towns and cities to grant property tax relief to barn owners who can show the public benefit of preserving their barns and other farm buildings. The incentive allows communities to provide tax relief of 25 percent to 75 percent of the assessed value of the buildings and land underneath them.

In addition, the assessment will not increase as a result of maintenance or repair work that is performed while the easement is in effect. The easement must be renewed every 10 years.

Just restoring the roof a barn can cost from $15,000 to $30,000.

"The easement doesn't save that much money, [only] about $400 or $600 a year," said Riley. "But the fact that they can't increase the assessment if you fix the structure is a real incentive."

According to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, almost a third of the Granite State's towns and cities have residents taking advantage of the program. The towns of Hampton and Kensington lead the state with 17 barns under easement, followed by Fitzwilliam with 13.

"Barns are an irreplaceable symbol of hard work, community, and the state's agricultural past," said Jennifer Goodman, executive director of the alliance.

She said no authoritative survey has been done on the number of antique barns in the state, but she estimates there are about 20,000. She agrees that New Hampshire is losing hundreds of barns a year.

"It's due to development, deterioration, and the changing nature of agriculture," she said. For example, Goodman pointed out that current day dairy farms now have barns with cement floors that can be hosed down, unlike old barns that had wooden floors and cellars where manure was stored.

Restoring barns is a hobby for Riley, who grew up in Pepperell, Mass., when working tractors and barns were still a common sight. In addition to his own barn, he has helped restore several others.

Most recently, he aided in reconstructing the Leavitt Barn, a 19th-century structure recently moved to the Tuck Museum in Hampton and then restored.

"They're a tourist attraction," he said. "The cost is minimal to save them and if we don't do something, they'll be lost. Otherwise, the next thing you know, the town will look like Daytona Beach."