NBA Partners with Indiana Barn Foundation for 2015 Conference

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

IBF logoSome 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).

Photo Red Barn With Flowers

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.

ResurrectionOfaBarn_v5“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!

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!  

image001The 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

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!

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 18th century English Paxson Road Barn, and theWindy Bush Road double-decker barn. As an additional bonus, the 19th 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.

 

How Unique is the Squire-Hennes Barn?

Long-time NBA member, Mona Hennes has put extraordinary energy and effort into researching this beautiful and unique barn that holds a special place in her family history. And the publication she has put together is testament to her diligence!  Mona was kind enough to share her masterpiece with us and allow the NBA to reprint a portion of it here.  A larger and more detailed article will be featured in the upcoming issue of our printed newsletter, The Barn Door.

Mona is very interested in this barn type and its construction methods, and is eager to identify others like it.  If you know of a similar barn elsewhere in the country, please post a comment below to help her learn more!  

In 1850, the seven member John Squire Family were among thousands of immigrants who came to the United States in search of a better life. The ship manifest lists Frederick Squire at age 3 when he traveled to America. Frederick grew up in Iowa and Indiana and married Frances E. Dean in 1866. Like hundreds of others, the young couple bravely carved out land as homesteaders in Lulu Township, Mitchell County, Kansas in 1870. Frederick and Frances Squire fulfilled their homestead requirements including building a house, digging a well, plowing, planting crops and living off the land. In the end, they raised a family and became respected Mitchell County land owners who were responsible for the construction of a most remarkable barn in the fall of 1888.

Images of the Squire-Hennes Barn, Courtesy of Mona Hennes.  Author's Permission Required for Reprinting.

Images of the Squire-Hennes Barn, Courtesy of Mona Hennes. Author’s permission required for reprinting or re-use of this material.

Mr. Squire’s barn was 40′ by 58′ by 32′ high and built by Hamilton Lee Wiley, a contractor from Beloit, who partnered briefly with a carpenter named Eli Pfrimmer Newbanks.  A second generation American of French descent, Newbanks grew up in Corydon, Indiana, and came to Mitchell County, Kansas, with his wife’s family as a homesteader around 1871.  He was well educated in carpentry and architecture.

During his career, Newbanks worked on large construction projects including The Alpine Tunnel built for the D&RG Narrow Gauge railroad in Gunnison, Colorado.  He also worked on projects in Louisiana, Texas and Missouri.  For a short time (~1882 to 1886), after the untimely death of his wife Delilah, Eli Newbanks partnered with Hamilton Wiley in his Beloit Contracting Business. Their advertisement appeared weekly in the Beloit Gazette.

In 1884, Eli became the lead carpenter for an octagon barn, built in Scottsville KS, just nine miles north and east of the Squire-Hennes barn. This barn, built for C. W. Culp, owner of Eureka Stock Farm, was the pinnacle of local construction jobs. While the barn no longer exists, it had the same ogee roof design as the Squire-Hennes barn. Winning this contract was a huge plus for Hamilton Wiley’s business reputation. One year later, 1888, Hamilton Lee Wiley built the Squire-Hennes barn for Frederick F. Squire.

In 1893, twenty three years after he homesteaded his farm in Lulu Township, Frederick Squire moved to Beloit and left his 600+ acres of property to be farmed by others. He died suddenly of appendicitis in January of 1899 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Beloit. His properties were divided among his children, with the home farm passing to his son, John.  When John Squire left Kansas around 1915, he rented the Squire farm to Caspar Hennes, my grandfather, who was living just one mile west.  Caspar Hennes (Grandfather), Fred Hennes (Dad,) and John Hennes (Uncle) farmed the property for the Squire family until ~1928, when Fred and John Hennes purchased some of the land, the farm house and buildings.

My Dad bought out the interest of his brother, John Hennes, around 1943.  My brother Jim Hennes farmed the land and cared for the barn until the mid-1970s. He tinned the barn’s roof which probably preserved the structure. My nephew, Mark Hennes, still farms land for the Records family. Howard Records, who lives in Arizona, is the great grandson of Dr. Thomas E. Records, husband of eldest daughter Lora E. Squire.

Mona Hennes' Plan and Depiction of the Barn's Interior.

Mona Hennes’ Plan and Depiction of the Barn’s Interior. Author’s permission required for any re-printing or re-use of this image.

NBA Goes on the Road to Savannah, GA!

PastForward_Web_619x350Here 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!

Savannah, GA

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!