Barns – A Look Inside

 Not bad, uh

Here is the barn as architecture: a structure of crucks and beams, purlins and plates. Here is the barn as an epitome of “vernacular” architecture – the use of native materials in the interest of simple, powerful design – a symbol of shelter and harvest, warmth and honest effort.

thoughts taken from:
"BARN – The Art of a Working Building"
by Elric Endersby, Alexander Greenwood, and David Larkin 
ISBN 0-395-57372-6

 

Wood, our natural friend


It was the barn for the square dance on Saturday night.
It was the front porch to rock on.
It was the trim that said the hard work paid off…..
The only thing worse than tearing down an old building,
is not re-using the wood that created it’s beauty.

An American Obligation

photography by Jeff Gnass - A century or two ago, although a man might be a doctor or printer or lawyer by profession, he was also, of necessity, a farmer. The early farmer who sold produce was a rarity; husbandry was not a business but a way of life. A man farmed to feed his own household and his livestock, and closeness to the soil and awareness of Nature were an inherent part of American living.

If barns could speak, think of the tales they would tell – of dreams and hardship, success and failure, of lives spent close to the earth where self-sufficiency was the only choice. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, abound with choices, it can be hard to fully comprehend the backbreaking physical effort, never-ending battle with the forces of nature, and the ever-present dangers of striking out into new territory.

The “old barn”, as part of our American heritage, merits respect and preservation.

thoughts taken from the books:
“An Age of Barns” by Eric Sloane, ISBN 0-89658-565-4
“The Barn” by Nancy L. Mohr, ISBN 0-7624-1107-4

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