The classic New England Connected Farm consisted of a group of four buildings connected such that they formed a partial courtyard within their grouping. The four connected buildings are referred to as the Big House, the Little House, the Back House, and the Barn.
Originally, these buildings would have served as a contained farm fully capable of being run throughout the harsh New England winter without the farmer setting foot outside. The Big house served as the formal dwelling for the family, with rooms for sleeping and others for entertaining on occasion. The Little house was the more heavily utilised, including the kitchen, workroom/"summer kitchen", and wood house (for firewood). The Back house connected the Little house to the the Barn, and consisted usually of a bay for a wagon, work and storage space, and the privy (situated closest to the barn in the back corner). The Barn lay at the end of the line, and served as the nexus for farming activities. In the winter, farm animals and food would be stored indoors for the entire season, the Barn providing shelter from the extreme New England climate.
You may not think that you have ever seen a Connected Farm before, but this building style was incredibly popular, and in New Hampshire and Maine it was almost the architectural rule for rural areas. Inevitably, a number of these farmhouses have survived, though many have adopted the guise of contemporary dwellings:
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