Huntington's Kissam Barn restoration on tap with $50,000 Gardiner Foundation grant

Just in time for America’s 250th birthday later this year, a Revolutionary War-era barn in Huntington is getting a facelift thanks in part to a $50,000 grant.

The Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation awarded the Huntington Historical Society a restoration matching grant for the Kissam Barn, on the Dr. Daniel Whitehead Kissam House property on Park Avenue, society officials said.

“We want to restore the barn to be able to use it for more events," said Lorraine Kelley, president of the Huntington Historical Society board.

Eventually, air conditioning and heat could be added, Kelley said. “But before we could look into adding that, we had to address some other issues, and that’s what this money will be used for.”

The improvements to the barn, built circa 1790, will include replacing the siding and updating its electrical and lighting systems. Huntington Station-based Raf Development Corp. will do the restoration work.

The Gardiner Foundation is an East Hampton-based nonprofit founded in 1987 with a mission of studying and supporting Long Island and New York State history.

In the fall, the historical society received a $50,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York that also will help fund the restoration.

Huntington Town Historian Robert Hughes said the barn, once known as the Rogers Barn, is an example of a late-18th century English barn. It was built in Lloyd Harbor on what was the 500-acre Rogers estate.

“It survived there until the 1970s, when the barn was threatened with demolition and the Huntington Historical Society scrambled to raise money to have the frame dismantled and moved to the Kissam property and reassembled,” Hughes said. “It’s been a great addition to the property to interpret the agricultural past and also provide a venue for programs.”

While in Lloyd Harbor, the barn was used to shelter livestock, and during the American Revolution may have housed British troops.

The barn now serves as storage and as a venue for some of the historical society's key annual events, including its signature fundraiser, Evening of Food & Wine Under the Stars, Kelley said. The entire property, which includes the Kissam House and a sheep shed, the latter which is attached to the barn, will host a wide variety of programming for the semiquincentennial celebrations.

Huntington Historical Society executive director Stephanie Gotard, who applied for the Gardiner Foundation grant, said she expects the renovations to start next month and be completed in the spring.

“I am so grateful to them for believing in this project and supporting historic restoration and preservation throughout New York State,” Gotard said.