We do not know the names of the carpenters who built this barn in 1785. Some of them were probably enslaved worker. But evidence surviving on the building tells us they were trained in an ancient craft tradition. Since medieval times and probably earlier, carpenters prepared wood for a structure in a work yard, shaping it and cutting the joints. To be sure that the joining pieces could later be matched up, they marked the timbers. Taking a chisel, the carpenter cut shallow Roman numerals into each timber near the joint. Then, when they carried the wood to the construction site, they would know that a timber displaying an "X" would go together with another marked with an "X."
This venerable practice was carried to Maryland by the first colonists and became a part of the Maryland building tradition. When Historic St. Mary's City rebuilt the sheds for this barn in 2008, builder Jeff Thompson used the same method in preparing the timbers, marking them with Roman numerals.
Look for some of the original 18th-century carpenters' marks on the barn timbers under protective panels.
[Aside:]
You may notice that there are one or two places in the barn where the numerals don't look quite right. This is because the Roman numerals that we all learned about in school only became standardized in modern times. So, IIIX could be used for seven—there are numerous examples in historical documents and old buildings where this is true—or it might just be an upside down 13.
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