Its Origins The barn is a beautiful, massive structure built by Samuel J. Randall in 1895. It is 45 by 100 feet and stands 70 feet high at the top of the cupola. This barn was built at a time in Vermont's history when the sheep industry was in decline and agricultural pursuits were turning towards dairy. Sam Randall built a barn that would accommodate a dairy herd, draft horses for farm work, and the feed to sustain them all. The barn is divided into three levels. The first floor at ground level housed the animals. The second floor hay mow soars 40 feet up to the rafters. The third floor "high drive" juts out the back of the barn in the form of a covered ramp and forms a roadway through the top of the hay mow. Wagons loaded with loose hay were pulled by teams of horses up the ramp. From there the hay was pitched down into the hay mow. From the second and third levels grain chutes went down to the animals on the first floor. This design used gravity to aid in the work of storing and distributing animal feed.