Smithfield Foods Red Barn

 11 Nov 23 Update:

The Town's Board of Historic and Architectural Review (NHAR) denied Smithfield Foods' request to raze the barn, and Foods has appealed the decision to the Town Council. A decision on the appeal is desired within 30 days.

Read more at: Smithfield Times

02 Apr 23:

To some it's just an old red barn, owned by Smithfield Foods and used for storage decades ago. Today it is empty and considered a safety hazard due to a rotting false floor and leaky roof, among other issues. Currently located behind the Smithfield Inn, its future is being discussed and meetings held to determine if it is a historic structure or not. 

We looked it over, it does need work but even with the pandemic induced inflationary price of materials, it could be economically repaired. We'd like to see a restoration that would be taken a step further to repurpose the structure into a multi use event-training-museum space. It most likely would need to brought up to fire code also, due to its close proximity to other structures.

In the meantime we took measurements and photos in case that this will be the only record of its existence. At a minimum, there is a lot of good lumber there that could be salvaged, or the structure could be gently disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, ala Barnwood Builders.

Crusty. Just how we like it. We think it would make a good small boat chandlery and boat works? See the bare wood area over the doors, that "shadow where a sign used to be? It would look nice with carved wooden sign that read Lewis Boat Works and Chandlery, don't you think? Only a block from the waterfront. Just sayin...

Did we mention that we think it would make a good small boat chandlery and boat works?