CUMMINGTON — An over 200-year-old barn at one of the town’s oldest former farms will be entering a new phase of its history, as its owners uplift and outfit the structure into a “functional” space.

Built between 1812 and 1818 and originally designed for agricultural purposes on the Gurney Farm, the barn will now serve as a three-car garage, equipped with plumbing for a bathroom, loft space that will serve as a 900-square-foot nook, and provide a drive up view of the acres of hay that dominate the property’s skyline.

On Monday, property owners Lauren and Teri Bullis, along with other community members, gathered at the Mount Road home to watch crews slowly move the barn to its new home next to the house some 225 feet away.

“We’re happy to repurpose it” said Lauren Bullis.

The couple purchased the 100-acre property three years ago, becoming the first non-Gurneys since the 1700s to own the land, which used to include a small cemetery now maintained by the town.

“We bought it from Jack Gurney, who never lived here,” but was a nephew in the Gurney family, Lauren Bullis said.

The barn required work, particularly to its foundation, “but the functionality is pretty limited being so far away.” The couple see the barn’s move as being conducive toward not only their practical need for a place to park, but also toward the long-term sustainability of the structure itself.

Lauren Bullis recalled how the idea came about. “One night in January, we’re going to bed. I’m like, ‘hey, how about we move the barn, put a garage in it,’” with hopes that “whoever ends up with this house will maintain it, because it’s attached to the house.”

Both are Vermont natives, and “growing up in Vermont, you see barns everywhere, and they’re slowly disappearing, and I hate seeing that,” he said.

The barn’s new location will be feet away from the property’s farmhouse, itself a relic dating from approximately 1815, and will be accessible through an enclosed walkway.

Teri Bullis explains that the barn is likely older than the house.

“Usually they would build the barn first, because that was their livelihood ... And then a year or so later, they would build the house,” referring to Cummington’s first inhabitants.

The structure, which currently measures 32 feet by 62 feet, “used to be 30 by 40 feet, which pretty much every old structure is ... that was the magical number,” for building dimensions, he explained. A 20-foot extension that had been added to the barn remains, however other additions have been “paired back,” Teri Bullis said.

Resting on the prepared concrete pad which is the barn’s new foundation, are hemlock sills, a new wood employed to provide continuity with the old. “If you ask any barn guy, they might say, ‘wow that’s not the best wood for a sill,’” but hemlock, locally available at the time of construction, will be used to honor the barn’s antique skeleton as it transitions to modern utility.

This is not the barn’s first move. “This barn used to be across the street years ago,” and is believed to have been moved around 1900, Lauren Bullis said, citing information given to him by an old barn specialist who had combed through the property.

“They moved it I’m sure with oxen and logs,” he said.

This time, nothing but steel, hydraulics and special equipment were used, said Adam Barber, co-owner with his dad of Larmon House Movers Inc., a Syracuse, New York-based company hired in January to move the barn.

The moving process began in early August. It took a week “getting steel underneath and through it ... all in relation to the barn,” Barber said, forming a steel grid to elevate the building.

The structure moved its first inches before 10 a.m., and was placed on its new location by 12:45 p.m., and was left cribbing above the foundation until carpenters evaluate the barn post supports, to ensure equal height among them.

Some of the community members on hand to view the spectacle reminisced when the barn stored hay and oxen. The agricultural tradition of the property remains alive, however, as the couple grow and harvest hay, with occasional help of their neighbors, used to feed their two horses.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.