Damiani Barn

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The Damiani barn was an 88-year old stucco barn.

History of the barn
 
This beautiful barn was built in 1920. It originally belonged to the Cheney family. They commissioned an architect to design it. The same architect designed their New Haven home.

Tony Damiani knew this barn as a child. His father worked on the farm owned by the Cheney's, known as Falcon's Flight Farm. Antonio was not allowed to play in this barn as a child. Not even the Cheney children were allowed to play in it. Eventually, Tony was able to purchase this barn and the property it was on. It was an acquisition of pride. He felt a sense of accomplishment and ownership. His family worked the Damiani farm, filling this beautiful barn with hay each year. He said, "It was a good barn for hay. It kept the hay nice." When Tony and his wife, Elizabeth retired, their son Raymond continued farming. He carried on the tradition of making hay. Summers in the barn were memorable. Ray's family had the pleasure of experiencing the barn during hay season. The warm summer days when Ray and his workers filled the barn with hay, brought sounds of the hay elevator squeaking, and glorious sights of hay floating in the sunshine.

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Ray Damiani rebuilt and borrowed money from First Pioneer Credit.

Litchfield was originally a farming community and the legacy should be maintained. Ray Damiani has been a farmer all his life. He used to be a dairy farmer. Farming is Ray's way of life. Unfortunately, he had to stop milking cows. He could not justify milking cows. Milk prices he received in the 1990's were the same level as his dad was making twenty years prior. He still makes hay, but he has good years and bad years. Ray lost a lot in that fire, and the goal of this website is to provide historical information about the Damiani barn and to raise money to fund the new barn. The insurance received from the disaster was barely enough to level the barn. Please contribute to help Ray fund the new barn.

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On January 14, 2008 this spectacular barn burned to the ground in a horrific fire. Thankfully no one was hurt and no animals were in the barn. Ray lost 10,000 bales of some of the finest Timothy hay. It was his best year for hay in twenty years. The cause of the fire was ruled "undetermined", but Ray shut the electricity to the barn, so the cause was not believed to be electrical. Spontaneous combustion was not likely the cause either. No hay was put in the barn since October of 2007. Local farmers were polled and commented that Ray had good hay. He has been making hay all his life and he knew what he was doing. He would never store green hay.

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Donations can be made by check payable to "Damiani Farm Fund". Please mail to:
 
Litchfield Bancorp
294 West Street
Litchfield, CT  06759
 

Please click here to donate by credit card.

We sincerely thank you for your donation.