Old Barns

[Docsknotinn]

Recently I have become fascinated with old barns. Who knows why. I just like them I guess. Mostly because I wish I had a barn. Here is a really interesting one I saw in Armada Mi Next to the fair grounds. It seems to be made of a reddish brown block with a almost shinny surface. Dave

 

[yooperdave]

Hi Dave,

I love old barns also. You have a nice looking one there.

I get sad when I see hundreds of them in Wisconsin and the U.P. falling down from lack of upkeep. A barn in my mind represents tons of resources back in the days of back breaking work. They were built to last a few lifetimes.

Though I have a pole barn, it was only based on the economics. The traditional barn accross the road only has a few more months of life remaining before it totaly falls down.

Hopefully more barns will be kept up so kids will know some of their agricultural heritage.

Yooper Dave

 

[thcri]

I love old buildings in general. I have some of my grandma's farm including the barn, house, windmill. I would have to dig some to find them but my mom has them on her wall. My wife took them a while back and they really turned out nice. Most of the buildings are not there anymore so I can only turn back to the pictures.

I do some Geo-Caching and on some of the trails that I go or deep in the woods you will find an old building. I sometimes will sit and just stare at them and think about the process of who owned, why was it built, and how many people did it take to build.

Maybe someday I will dig them ones out of the farm and have them scanned.

murph

 

[Docsknotinn]

Murf, whats geo-caching ? Dave

 

[thcri]

Dave,

Geo-Caching is kind of a sport where someone will put a bunch of junk in a container and hide it out in the woods someplace. He will then leave hints on where to find it along with a cordinance from his GPS. Because of the cordinates given you would think it would be easy but it can be a task as GPS's are only so accurate. There is a web page dedicated to just GPS and Geo-caching. Here is the link for it Geo Caching

There is somewhere in the neighborhood of 144 countries involved with it. I do it for time with my kids and the hiking. Some of these caches are 5 miles into the woods.


murph

 

[TimSullivan]

Even though or maybe because I am a transplanted city boy, I too love old barns. Our house over looks three century old barns that are painted the proper red. Each morning I would eat breakfast and look out the window and enjoy the tranquil view. About three weeks ago we had a high winds and the largest of the barns was pushed off its foundation and collapsed. It still rests on it side and just looks so sad.

 

[DocHeb]

I like this one because of the curved roof, and because it seems to be relatively well taken care of. So many in Southeast Michigan are not properly maintained. The roof starts to leak, and the next think you know it's back (i.e. the ridge beam) is broken and sagging. Its all downhill from there.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Nice barn Doc but I dont konow if my big bad 2210 would fit in that one /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif I saw a bunch of people running around the woods with GPS units a few years back when I was mushroom picking. I thought they were looking for satelite mushrooms, lol. That actually sounds kinda fun and a great way to go for a hike and get familiar with your unit. Dave

 

[Boondox]

Dave -- Are the gambrel roofs more common in your neck of the woods? We don't see many of them here in New England, though the design always seemed more practical to me. Around here it's more common to see variations on the English-style (albeit overgrown) with a 10/12 or greater roof pitch, and often a cupola on top for venting.

Like your stomping ground, many around here are being allowed to die. Others are taken apart to become the basis for somebody's new home elsewhere. Better than letting it rot, but I do miss them when they're gone.

Pete

 

[Docsknotinn]

Pete, I wish I knew enough about barns to answer that. I dont even know what kind of a roof that is. The stone barn I put up the photo of is very unusual here. There are a few but they must have cost a mint to build. I almost wonder if those were built dureing WW1 Or WW2 and it was the only material available. Dave

 

[DocHeb]

Dave, I'll cover this one for you. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Attached is a photo of a typical dairy farm setup near Saline Michigan. The largest barn has a gambrel roof, and is the cow barn (but in this case, converted to a sheep barn). The cows (sheep) stay in the basement, allowing hay to come down from the top floor. It is built on a slight incline allowing machine access to the middle floor on the back side. Actually with the more typically flat Michigan topography, a dirt ramp is built to allow access.

Another large barn to the left follows the more typical New England pattern, with a simple gable roof. Since this is usually for hay storage multiple floors are not needed, and the simpler roofline is used.

A lean-to addition in the foreground might house the workshop/machine shop/other livestock.

Chicken Coop - smaller structure in the foreground

Finish off with the Silo for silage storage, and a corn crib next to that.

Bring on the milkers!

 

[DocHeb]

Unfortunately, many of the barns in the area look like this one.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Most of the barns I see here are like the first one. Thats what my grandfathers barn was like, Huge like that as well. Even though it was on the side of a hill he had the dirt built up on the other side so you could drive through with the tractor. Most barns like that have lofts on both sides of the upper level for hay storage or sneaking away with sally sue when your 16 /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Then theres a shaft where you drop the hay to the bottom where those cows are like a mad bomber. My jobs always centered on two things, Pulling the hay off that elevator and stacking it or cleaning out those nifty trouphs that were set in the concrete in the basement /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I dont see very many of the other type here. There are some that are more rounded with large tin vents and side Gables on the roof. I went out to photo one today just a few miles from my house. It was probably one of the neatest barns I ever saw. It had been a few years since I went that direction. No more barns but a couple of 2 million +++ $$$ homes. Can you just imagine what old farmer joe would have thunk if he knew some day there would be mini mansions where his barn was. Just down the street from there is another old barn like your second photo Doc. I cant guess the age but I think its a field stone basement and all the beams are hand hewn. You can see the axe marks in the beams. I'd give my two front teeth to hunt that property one season. Its right across from the Metro park. There were deer every where this afternoon, way too many of them, literally. I even had four in my backyard when I got home. The day or two after the Hunters Moon /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Dave