NBA Partners with Indiana Barn Foundation for 2015 Conference

Posted on June 10, 2015 by danae

Indiana Barn Foundation and National Barn Alliance Coming Together July 18th to Talk Barn Preservation!

Some of our biggest barn-loving fans are certainly aware of the great strides that the Indiana Barn Foundation (IBF) has made in its first two years, but the NBA couldn’t be more excited to travel to Indianapolis next month for the organization’s 2nd Annual Meeting and Conference at the Normandy Barn of the Indiana State Fairgrounds from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, July 18th. If you missed the NBA in Indianapolis for the 2013 National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference, now is your chance to become a member and buy some great barn-preservation merchandise to show your support for all those who #saveourbarns!

The Indiana Barn Foundation, whose mission is to support the preservation of historic barns, has brought together a wide array of barn preservationists from across the Hoosier State and raised awareness about the value of Indiana’s historic barns in a number of ways, most notably with their lobbying support of tax relief legislation aimed at lessening the tax burden of property owners with historically significant barns! True to fashion, the NBA will also be holding our Annual Membership Meeting that weekend (details to follow via electronic communication to NBA members).

Image courtesy of Indiana Barn Foundation

A recent press release from IBF details: “From barn enthusiasts to experts, this one-day event will offer options for anyone who appreciates barns and wants to see them remain part of Indiana’s landscape. Barn owners can learn from a panel of contractors and preservation experts during a Question and Answer Session, and will hear about legislative efforts affecting barn owners.

“The keynote speaker is architect Chuck Bultman, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bultman has adapted over 30 barns to new uses, including wedding venues and event spaces, and has restored barns ‘to just be barns’. Bultman is a board member of the NBA and member of several preservation organizations including the Timber Framers Guild. Attendees will also meet artists and crafters with a passion for artwork that features barns, including painter Gwen Gutwein, photographer Marsha Williamson-Mohr, and Indiana Artisan Dorrell Harris. Indiana Barn Foundation’s plans for a Bicentennial Barn Quilt will also be revealed.

“Other highlights of the day will be a screening of “The Resurrection of a Barn” by IBF member and filmmaker Freddi Stevens-Jacobi, a catered lunch served family style and accompanied by live music, and a close-up look at how barns are constructed with the raising of a scale model wooden barn and also a computer-generated barn model. At 3 o’clock the conference will move to Zionsville, and conclude with a tour of the farm and historic barns of Traders Point Creamery.

“Those who wish are welcome to join IBF and NBA members for an evening meal at Traders Point Creamery in The Loft Restaurant. Dinner is not included in the registration fee, and reservations are recommended.”

Registration cost for the entire day will include lunch and barn tour and will be just $40 per person ($30 for IBF or NBA members). Online registration is available on the Indiana Barn Foundation web site at www.indianabarns.org, under Events. Membership forms can also be found on the website.

We hope you will join us in Indy!

Good Stewardship: Farmland Conservation & Barn Preservation Go Hand-in-Hand!

Posted on May 4, 2015 by danae

This month’s post comes to us from dedicated members of The Franklin Trust (FLT) out of western Massachusetts — “a non-profit organization that assists farmers and other landowners who want to protect their land from unwanted development.” The NBA is pleased to the growing interest in land conservation as it relates to saving resources of all sorts — including the historic built environment!

The people of Plainfield and of Western Massachusetts are privileged to have had the historic 107-acre Guyette Farm donated to the Franklin Land Trust. Under the supervision of the FLT, this land will be forever protected from development and neglect.

As a community leader in the protection of open land, the FLT is embarking on new ground with the recent acquisition of not just a beautiful piece of farmland, but also an entire farm complete with an antique barn. What is farmland without a farm or without a barn? Sometimes the proper stewardship of rural land involves the proper stewardship of the structures that defined that lands purpose in history.

The Guyette farm is home to an early 19th century English barn, not an average barn, but one full of unique architectural features not commonly found all in a single structure: The 30×40 foot barn is made up of large hand-hewed timbers, intricate English joinery, a steep roof, a five sided ridge beam and robust wind bracing in the roof system. This group of distinctive features defines this building as an early example of a classic English hinterland barn: the singular landscape element that symbolizes early American life.

View of Guyette Barn in Plainfield, MA

Fortunately, for its age, this barn has survived with dignity: the core barn structure and even a small ell are in very good structural condition. The barn however is in jeopardy of structural failure and deterioration due to severe foundation issues. As is typical of structures built in the 1800’s, this barn, as strong as it is, was built on a rather poor stone foundation. Time and the cycling of the seasons have taken their toll on the stone structure supporting the barn and leave it struggling to stand straight. With foundation failure comes structural failure: something that is avoidable with proper and timely attention.

The Guyette barn is facing a critical time; it is a valued part of the Plainfield countryside and recognizable by generations of locals. To the casual observer it is a pastoral symbol of rural history quietly growing old in the field, but closer inspections reveals problems that will lead to its rapid decline if not addressed in the near future. This fine example of our agricultural heritage has a lot to offer and is capable of serving many more generations with proper stewardship. The Guyette barn is a barn worth saving and a project the Franklin Land Trust is privileged to have the opportunity to venture into.

If you want to help support the FLT in their effort to #savethatbarn, go to their webpage and make a contribution to the cause! http://www.franklinlandtrust.org/news/help-save-this-historic-barn

NBA thanks Mary Lynn Sabourin, Development Director of the FLT, for submitting this piece for posting on our blog, and the FLT, at large, for working hard to raise awareness of the cultural and historic value of the Guyette Barn and farmstead. To learn more about The Franklin Trust and their good works, visit: http://www.franklinlandtrust.org/

Bucks’ Barns are Back!

Posted on April 9, 2015 by danae

This post comes to us from our Vice President, Jeffrey Marshall – a man that wears a number of hats! Marshall is also the current President of the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania and President of the Heritage Conservancy, a non-profit organization that advocates for saving much of Bucks County, PA’s historic and natural resources. This post highlights Jeff’s latest work to gather lovers of historic barns and timber-framing construction together to marvel at some of the nation’s earliest surviving agricultural buildings. We sure hope you can join in the fun!

This image of the Paxon Road Barn - one of great barns featured during this TTRAG conference - was taken during NBA's 2015 Winter Meeting. We sure showed Winter!

This image of the Paxon Road Barn – one of great barns featured during this TTRAG conference – was taken during NBA’s 2015 Winter Meeting. We showed Winter!

For those who missed the NBA Winter meeting held in the snow last month,barn and vernacular architecture enthusiasts can now register for a tour which is being presented as part of the 2015 Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG) symposium on April 18, Lahaska, Bucks County, PA. The cost for the tour only (the symposium is full) is $65 per person, including lunch.

The tour itinerary includes two outstanding Pennsylvania Standard barns on Mechanicsville Road Barn and Tinicum Park Barn, the 18^th century English Paxson Road Barn, and theWindy Bush Road double-decker barn. As an additional bonus, the 19^th century Stover-Myers Mill with all of its intact mill works will be open. You can register for the tour online http://www.tfguild.org/about/traditional-timberframe-research-and-advisory-group or call Sue Warden at the Guild office, 855/598-1803.

NBA Goes on the Road to Savannah, GA!

Posted on November 9, 2014 by danae

Here we go again! NBA Board Members and state barn organization partners are volunteering their time and energy to continue the NBA’s presence at the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference. This year, the action is in Savannah, Georgia, where we connect with preservationists of all kinds to engage them in conversations about saving America’s historic barns!

What does an urban landscape like Savannah have to offer barn lovers? We think the trip to the South has a lot of potential! The state of Georgia was one of the first to create an historic agricultural context to aid in the evaluation of farm properties for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Anyone can download a copy of this context, entitled Tilling the Earth, and learn more about the types of agriculture practiced historically in the state. Vernacular agricultural studies are also common about students at the Savannah College of Design (SCAD), one of the NTHP’s local partners in conference activities.

Though we won’t be able to bring any of our barn models south this year, we will bring our fabulous 2014 t-shirts with the catchy phrase: “Vernacular is Spectacular: Save Our Barns!” After the conference, these t-shirts will be up for sale to great friends like you – they are sure to make great stocking stuffers for any barn lover!

Until then, plan to swing by our booth if you’re attending the NTHP conference and check out our hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other helpful barn-preservation items to show your support for old barns!

Help NBA get the Barn Question back in the Ag Census!

Posted on September 10, 2014 by danae

Dear Barn Preservationist:

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is soliciting suggestions for changes to the Census of Agriculture. All submissions are time sensitive and must be received no later than September 30, 2014. Please help the NBA by lobbying the USDA using the following link to their public comment form! Each Comment Form asks for a name, address, email address and your affiliation. Please feel free to note an affiliation with the National Barn Alliance to show your support for historic barns!

http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Contact_Us/Census_Program_Input_Form/

If you aren’t sure what to say, please feel free to cut and paste the text we have supplied below:

What new or additional information is needed?

For the first time in the history of the Census, the 2007 Census of Agriculture counted farms that had a barn 50 years or older. Unfortunately the 2012 Census of Agriculture did not have the barn question in it. We are advocating for the re-introduction of the question in the 2017 Census so that we can continue to monitor the numbers of farms that have an old barn on them and compare the new data to the 2007 Census. Please put the “Barn Question” back into the 2017 Census of Agriculture.

Why is the information needed?

Our nation’s old historic barns are an important and irreplaceable historic resources on our landscape. We need to know how many there are and then determine their condition in order to develop programs to support their rehabilitation and re-use. In order to know how many there are, we need to count them. The USDA can and should be a part of this process of documenting the old barns on farms.

We believe that it is important to bring back the same question found on the 2007 Census of Agriculture and count the number of farms that have a barn 50 years or older across the USA. Fifty years is the threshold of age for beginning to consider a building’s historical contributions to the past according to federal standards established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. Consider that at the height of family farms in America, over 26 million farms dotted the American landscape. Most had at least one historic barn. By the 2007 Census of Agriculture we had around 2 million farms and many did not have an old barn on them. The 2007 Census of Agriculture counted just over 650,000 farms with at least one older barn on it. The data was invaluable!

At what level is the information needed? (U.S., state, county)

At the national and state levels and on all questionnaires the USDA disseminates.

Who will use the information?

The American public, the National Barn Alliance, the 50 State Historic Preservation Offices, countless non-profit preservation organizations (statewide, regional, county, and local preservation advocacy organizations as well as barn preservation organizations, farmland, and rural conservation organizations across the country). And don’t forget about future researchers interested in America’s agricultural past!