Historic Barns of Nipmoose

 

The His­toric Barns of Nip­moose may well be the ulti­mate Escape New York City wed­ding des­ti­na­tion.  Locat­ed about 3 1/2 hours from Man­hat­tan, in one of the north­ern­most coun­ties of the Hud­son Val­ley and lying close to the Ver­mont state bor­der, this mul­ti-barn venue is sur­round by 120 acres of farm­land with a sweep­ing panora­ma that will make you feel like you’re in a world of your own.

 

 

For New York City brides with fam­i­lies pre­dom­i­nate­ly based in the met­ro­pol­i­tan area, the site is def­i­nite­ly a trek.   Dit­to for Boston brides and their fam­i­lies who face the same dri­ve time.  For Albany and Cap­i­tal Region brides, the site is a hop, skip, and a jump across the Hud­son Riv­er to the town of Buskirk.  But in all cas­es, the trip is well worth it for the one of a kind pri­va­cy and sweep­ing views the Barns of Nip­moose offer.

 

 

Before we get to the details impor­tant to your wed­ding event con­sid­er­a­tions, here’s a lit­tle back­sto­ry about the Barns of Nip­moose.  The site dates back to the 1700s when the first known own­ers of the land, the Dar­ling Fam­i­ly, estab­lished a farm close to the banks of the Nip­moose Riv­er.  Between 1799 and 1839, the farm changed hands three times until it was pur­chased by the Sher­man Fam­i­ly who worked it for over a cen­tu­ry.  In the ear­ly 1900s, the Sher­man farm oper­at­ed as a dairy farm but this enter­prise came to end some­time around the 1950s when the cows were sold off and the land was leased to neigh­bor­ing farmers.

In 2000, the non-prof­it Per­sis­tence Foun­da­tion — ded­i­cat­ed to pre­serv­ing agri­cul­tur­al lands and her­itage — pur­chased the farm and the build­ings that were on it, many of them in very bad shape.  Two of the barns were select­ed for restora­tion and today these are the build­ings where wed­dings at Nip­moose take place.

 

 

Con­stance Kheel, his­to­ri­an and pres­i­dent of the Per­sis­tence Foun­da­tion, and Bar­bara Squires, Nip­moose’s event man­ag­er, led us on a tour of the barns explain­ing the roles of the three his­toric build­ings in every Nip­moose wed­ding celebration.

We start­ed with the “Scot­tish” barn, so-called because of its tapered, 14-foot high sup­port posts typ­i­cal of the Scot­tish style barns built over 200 years ago.  Con­struct­ed entire­ly of white oak, this struc­ture is believed to be one of the ear­li­est of its kind in Amer­i­ca.  “I don’t know of any oth­er like it,” says Con­stance, explain­ing how the sup­ports of the barn were inter­con­nect­ed with “secret join­ery’ tech­niques now known to only a very few people.

 

 

The 1800 square foot Scot­tish barn inte­ri­or is pre-strung with lights and can seat up to 182 guests (156 with buf­fet set­up, or 146 with dance floor).  If used as a cer­e­mo­ny venue, it can accom­mo­date 218 seat­ed guests.  To pre­serve its his­toric details, there is no air con­di­tion­ing or heat­ing, but the space is airy enough with the large piv­ot­ing doors seen above (which we are told are also unique archi­tec­tur­al features).

 

 

Right beside the Scot­tish Barn is the “Ger­man” Barn, which as you might have guessed, was built using Ger­man meth­ods of barn build­ing.  The struc­ture dates to the ear­ly 1800s but orig­i­nal­ly did not stand at Nip­moose; it was brought here in the ear­ly 1900s by the Sher­man Fam­i­ly and erect­ed over a stone base­ment to house dairy cows.

 

 

As this build­ing was con­ceived as an events space dur­ing the ren­o­va­tion, it does have heat­ing (but no air con­di­tion­ing) as well as track light­ing and a ceil­ing fan for ven­ti­la­tion.  The 1380 square foots space can accom­mo­date stand-up cock­tail par­ties for 150 guests; seat­ed din­ners for 106 guests (96 guests with buf­fet, and 70 guests with a dance floor).

 

 

On the base­ment lev­el there are couch­es, restrooms,  and plen­ty of space for get­ting ready.  Cater­ers can also use the space if need be.

 

 

 

Back above ground and on the west­ern side of the Ger­man barn there is a stone wall and a pair of doors which is a favorite spot for bride and groom por­traits.  At night, the wall is strung with lanterns and sparkler send-offs are often staged here.

 

 

Near­by stands the Corn Crib, which is the third and small­est of the his­toric barns.  Like the Ger­man barn, it too is a trans­plant com­ing from a near­by farm where it was built in the 1800s.  Its orig­i­nal role was to store corn and to keep it safe from ver­min, but today it has a num­ber of uses dur­ing Nip­moose weddings.

 

 

Inside, depend­ing on the angle of the sun, the corn crib fills with pin­points of lights.  “A lot of cou­ples like to take pho­tos in here when the light is like this.  It’s real­ly mag­i­cal,” says event man­ag­er Bar­bara Squires.

 

 

In addi­tion to the his­toric barns, there is a small red mod­ern barn which was built for the restora­tion work but today is a stag­ing area for cater­ers.  It has addi­tion­al restrooms, elec­tric­i­ty, and run­ning water.  All cou­ples get­ting mar­ried at Nip­moose are respon­si­ble for choos­ing and hir­ing their own caterers.

Also, all fur­ni­ture rentals are the respon­si­bil­i­ty of cou­ples.  For more than 180 guests, tents and addi­tion­al portable restrooms are required.

There are park­ing spaces for 80 cars and room for bus­es to drop guests and to turn around.

In the near future, there are plans to restore a near­by 1800s farm­house on the prop­er­ty which will like­ly play into Nip­moose wed­ding events.  We’re look­ing for­ward to more news about this and excit­ed for the site’s expansion.

 

 

Cou­ples inter­est­ed in hold­ing their wed­ding events at Nip­moose are advised to vis­it the site at least a year in advance.  “Espe­cial­ly dur­ing the autumn months when the fall col­ors are in demand, we advise brides to start ear­ly,” says Bar­bara Squires.

 

 

Imagining your wedding event at The Historic Barns of Nipmoose?

Down­load images from this arti­cle on our His­toric Barns of Nip­moose Web Album made espe­cial­ly for your smart­phone. Use it for ref­er­ence and share with those help­ing you plan.

Additional Information:

To learn more about The His­toric Barns of Nip­moose vis­it https://nipmoosebarns.org.

To dis­cuss your Nip­moose wed­ding with Due­tim­age Hud­son Val­ley Wed­ding Pho­tog­ra­phers, call (845) 905‑6323 or vis­it: http://www.duetimage.com/contact.