What We Can Learn About Historic Barns in America from a Decade and the Agricultural Census
Danae Peckler, architectural historian, Fredericksburg, VA In 2007 and 2017—thanks to the lobbying efforts of a few National Barn Alliance (NBA) board members, particularly Rod Scott, and our great network of barn preservation advocates, including many active supporters of state and local preservation organizations—the United States Agricultural Department (USDA) put a simple question to the farmers of America’s working farms in the Agricultural Census: “Do you have a barn built prior to 1960?” From the “yes” or “no” answers of those farmers, a set of statistics...
Read MoreDating Barns in Holland Township, New Jersey with Dendrochronology (Part 3)
By Carla Cielo, Architectural Historian, Historic Preservation Consultant, Designer, and longtime NBA member. Two articles on this dendrochronology project have been previously published in the Barn Journal. Check out both stories: Part 1 & Part 2! (The Historic Preservation Commission of Holland Township, New Jersey, hired ‘Oxford Tree Ring Dating’ to date nine barns with dendrochrolology. This study has been funded, in part, with grants provided by the New Jersey Historical Commission. It was hoped that a study of this kind would answer questions related to ethnic settlement...
Read MoreRenovating the Little Red Barn
This guest post comes to us from one determined barn owner in Allen County, Indiana, and mirrors many of the renovation stories we at the NBA hear regularly, but Jessica Erpelding has the grit and grace to see through her efforts to legally and legitimately open an event barn for weddings and other gatherings–more importantly, to share the ups and downs she has faced along the way. To learn more about Jessica’s efforts to save this barn and share it with her community, click here! Also, please note that we at the NBA know that not every old barn can be converted into assembly...
Read MoreSaving the Iconic Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake
If you follow the NBA on Facebook, you might be familiar with the colossal effort being put forth since the Fall of 2014 to Save the Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake (including the work of a high school student who made fundraising to save the barn her senior class project!). Over the past couple of years, we have watched support for rehabilitating this barn blossom – in part because they are taking the right steps to physically maintain it, but also because they have rallied their community behind the long-term goal to preserve this iconic barn. Though there is never enough money to save...
Read MoreArtist Documents Diversity in Barns of Indiana
Excerpts of this story come to us from our partners in barn preservation at the Indiana Barn Foundation and details the work of a long-time NBA member and barn advocate, painter Gwen Gutwein. Over the years, Gwen has graciously allowed the NBA to add interest to a number of articles and social media posts with beautiful paintings. Therefore it gives us great pleasure to share her story and talent with barn lovers the world over! **Copyright Gwen Gutwein and HERITAGE BARNS. Any reproduction of these images without written permission of the content creator is prohibited.** In December...
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About The Barn Journal
NBA’s blog, The Barn Journal, is named in honor of the work of Past President, Charles Leik, and the website he started in 1996. Charles communicated with a number of barn owners around the country and compiled their stories for all to enjoy. The site continues to feature a number of topics related to saving old barns and is known to many in the preservation community as a valuable resource. 