Native...I never tire of seeing pics of that barn in that setting. What's the history of that barn and are you having to do much to preserve/maintain it? How bout a pic tour of the interior?
Thanks Triple C. Here is some history on the barn:
The farm has been in my family for several generations. There is the remnant of an old house still here that my grandfather lived in until he died in 1981. I did some work on the house after that, but it took at hit from a bad storm at some point and I just had to give up on it. Even the chimney broke loose and fell straight down.
I've done a lot of work on the barn since then. I screwed down the roof myself and hired a guy to replace part of the roof on the lower left shed. I also added a steel cable at one place where a post was trying to kick out. It is in pretty good shape, and I try to do whatever I need to for it.
My dad is 83 years old and the barn was built sometime around when he was 5 years old. They had another barn which burnt down before this one was built. He remembers my grandfather running out in the middle of the night trying to save animals that were in the barn when they realized it was on fire. The next day when all the neighbors found out what had happened, an army of men showed up to build a new barn. That new barn is the one you see standing today. For many years after that it was used by my grandparents for milking cows, storing hay and other miscellaneous farming needs. I grew up working in and around that barn. You can gain a lot of character by spending hours in a barn with a pitchfork, cleaning out the manure...........
Along with the barn there are still a couple of old buildings there, like the corn crib and old tool shed. I have also done work on these - especially the roofs.
We don't store anything in the barn now, so it kind of just stands as an icon from the past. My dad lives at another farm about 1/2 miles up the road, so that is where we keep tools, tractors, etc. Even though it isn't used for anything, it is still important to me. Sometimes I just go in there and set for a while thinking about the old days when I was a child and there doing things with my grandparents. Those were some happy times from an era that will never return.
I could take some pictures on the inside, but there isn't too much interesting to see now. There are stalls that look like most barns from that era and a ladder going up into the loft. The loft is pretty empty and not partitioned off. It was mainly used to store hay and tobacco. But for me, every turn and every corner brings back some kind of a happy memory.
Thanks for asking about the barn. I got a lot of joy just responding to your post and thinking about it.
