Once prominent landmarks that dotted rural America, barns are vanishing at an alarming rate. Known as one of the earliest forms of architecture in colonial times through the industrial revolution, these icons represent and record our agrarian roots. As time marches on and the natural materials that barns are constructed of decay, each year we loose an important part of our collective past. Large corporate farms dominate American agriculture today. These mega-farms spawn large metal and fiberglass buildings that might be called barns, but are far removed from real barns. Real barns came in many sizes, types and styles. There were livestock, machinery, milking and hay barns. Round, octagonal and rectangular barns. Log, colonial and prairie style barns. Big and small, red, white colored, cedar shingled and metal roofed. There was a barn for every need and occasion. Most featured large rolling doors, single-paned windows and multiple levels. Nooks and crannies were homes to barn owls, oiling cans and farm tools. Barns were everywhere in the rural landscape and used as landmarks for strangers to get around the countryside. "Take a left at the red barn" was common in prairie and ranching driving directions. Barns became billboards in the early 1900's advertising to the masses in rural areas. People starting living in barns in the 1960's, adaptive reuse saved many barns from decay. In the 1970's barn wood was a decorating rage and many barns were destroyed after their weathered siding was removed for suburban family rooms. Hand-hewn beams were cut up for fireplaces and wood stoves. Each summer as I drive through familiar farming areas, more barns are gone. The landscape is different and lonely without them. They were a barometer of prosperity, you could tell the economic viability of a farm and a region by how well the barns were kept. Without the icons I now get lost, no more red barn to remind me to turn left. The yellow windows of milking parlors replaced with vast pole buildings with fiberglass skylights. We need to save the vanishing barns. The National Trust and Successful Farming Magazine have a program called Barn Again! that is helping to save these important architectural icons. |
