Marshfield: Historic barn at airport saved from demolition

In order for the Marshfield Airport’s runway to expand and be brought up to federal standards, a salt barn built in the 1880’s by Samuel Hatch must go. But residents like Regina Porter from the town’s historical commission believes there’s too much significance for it to be demolished.

“It’s an old timber frame barn which in that methodology, wasn’t used back then in that time period, it was outdated. It shows what kind of a Yankee he was that he used an old-fashioned way to build this barn,” said Porter

Marshfield Airport Manager Dave Dinneen said the shed could potentially stay put, “There’s enough of a distance where if the barn had to remain it could. That’s not the goal here. It gets close to our lines of sight and also our transition surfaces.”

Project bids were reviewed Thursday to either demolish or dismantle the historic barn. Dinneen explained their budget of $100,000 was just enough, “Money has been set aside. It looks like with the opening of today’s bids, we’ve hit that number. So it looks like a good possibility, depending on the consultant’s final determination, that we will be able to properly dismantle, keep a barn, and not have to throw it away which is great news to everybody.”

Currently, the plan is to have a Pembroke consultant dismantle the barn and deliver it to Hingham where it will be stored. The barn will remain in pieces until it finds a new owner.