The drive shed

Some people who have read this blog wondered what a drive shed is. So I thought I might show you a bit of it today.

I live in the country in a wooden church that was built in 1870. In those days people traveled in wagons, buggies and on horse back. Going to church on Sunday was an important part of the fabric of life and provided opportunity for more than just worship - much of the social activity of a community centred around churches and gave people a day off from some of the farm chores.

My little church which was used by itinerant preachers or ministers, probably held about 100 people in its heyday. They drove or rode to the church and "parked" their vehicles or horses in a large shed that came almost to the back of the church. My drive shed was cut in half giving me a "back yard" but back then it was huge at least five times as big as the little 25  x 40 foot church. Peple would drive their horses and wagons or buggies into the shed and tie them there. The ring you can see in this picture is an original. Horses were tied to it and over time they rubbed away the wood on either side... or chewed it as some horses do.

This picture shows the old mortice and tenon construction and the beams. Some have been reinforced, but you can clearly see on the bottom of the beam on the right, the adze marks from that huge axe like tool, which squared the tree into a huge long beam - this one is about a foot and a half thick and 20 plus feet long.






This photograph shows where the farmer who bought the drive shed when it was no longer used as a church, cut it in half and put on old barn doors that slid along the iron rail at one time. A "man door" - what the locals call the smaller door used by people to walk through, not for animals - was eventually cut here. You can see the tip of it in the bottom of the picture.

Ultimately it became a storage shed, and when I bought the property, I had stalls put in for my two horses. The stalls stand there still, waiting for the next creatures that might come my way and need a place to stay.

I find history fascinating, the way people used to live. I'm so fortunate to be living in a bit of it and to be able to explore some of the pioneer days in this area of Canada.