Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn c. 1914

208 Salmon Brook Street

Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn - Current day

This Building:

The large tobacco barn, built in 1914 by Fred M. Colton, was given to the Society by his daughters in 1976. The Society began to raise money for a barn museum in 1984; it was opened to the public in 1994.

A Bit More:

The Barn, now a museum, contains collections from Granby's past. The museum includes artifacts from local indigenous peoples. A collection of early spinning and weaving tools is in one corner. Another display has municipal voting equipment ranging from the ballot box to the town's last voting machine before the advent of computers. It was 2006; Jodi Rell was running for governor that year.

An early Meeting House is recreated from many of Granby's early churches. There are doors from the Episcopal church of 1790, a Universalist Church pew, First Church organ, South Church hymn boards, West Granby Methodist Church pew doors, and a Swedish Bible from the early days of Pilgrim Covenant Church.

Post Office

Voting Booth

Granby General Store

Even More:

The rest of the Barn shows Granby in the 1890s era. A Village Store is filled with an amazing variety of items. There is a dressmaker's shop, a shoemaker's shop that was located in the Henry Fielding house on Wells Road near the current ambulance barn and a creamery that shipped its milk to the big cities on the train. The kitchen features an apple peeler and sausage stuffer, an iron cookstove, and an ice box. A wash kitchen has an 1830 zinc bathtub with a wooden lid, a stove to heat the heavy flat irons, and a deluxe hand-cranked washing machine.

There are sleds and sleighs, a huge hoisting wheel, hay rakes and hay forks, carpenter tools, items used in cider mills, grist mills, blacksmithing, maple sugaring, hog slaughtering, bee keeping, harness making, ice cutting, and a large tobacco section.

Church