Background: The Joslin farm is located on a tributary of the Mad River some 20-miles southwest of Montpelier, Vermont�s capital. Cyrus Joslin purchased the property in 1831 and lived there with his wife and ten children until his death in 1866. It was his generation that built a 2�- story vernacular/Greek revival farmhouse c. 1860. At Cyrus� death an inventory valued the 93-acre homestead at $3,200 and 75-acres of adjoining mountain land at $250.

A member of the Joslin clan, David Clement �Clem� Joslyn (note the different spelling) purchased the land in 1901 and 1910 from Cyrus� descendents. A 1911 inventory shows the farm owning a yoke of oxen, two yearling heifers, 13 milk cows, a bull, two 2-year old steers, three hogs and two horses.

It was Clem, a Waitsfield town selectman for 23-years and a one-term member of the state legislature, who built the duodecagonal (12-sided polygonal) barn in 1910. Reportedly, the barn was designed by a second cousin, James Julian Joslin, who also designed a similar barn for a Bert Joslin.

The 80� diameter and 61.4� high (top of cupola) barn was in continuous use for dairy cows from 1910 until 1969 when Marge Joslyn served husband Ralph the ultimatum, �Either the cows go or I go!� Jack and Doreen Simko�s purchase of the farm in March 1986 ended the 155-year, seven- generation Joslin/Joslyn family stewardship.