Barn This Way: 6 Picture-Perfect Historic Barns
Whenever we get a chance to include a photo of a barn in a Preservation magazine story layout, we can’t help uttering a sigh of contentment. It’s just an inescapable fact—people love barns. Their clean lines, time-honored forms, and organic materials appeal to both the modernists and traditionalists among us.
Barns appear in rural and small-town landscapes in every region of the country. They also play major roles in classic works of literature like Animal Farm, Charlotte's Web, and East of Eden. While they're often still used for agricultural purposes, some have been converted into restaurants, hotels, and houses with wood walls and expansive interior spaces. Others remain empty, waiting for a new purpose.
Below, we bring you six barns from the pages of Preservation magazine for your viewing pleasure.
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photo by: Monica Donovan and Judd Lamphere
The roof trusses inside the 1915 barn at Conant's Riverside Farm in Richmond, Vermont, featured in the Spring 2017 story "Dairy Made." (Exterior shown at top.)
photo by: Monica Donovan and Judd Lamphere
The barn at Ayers Brook Goat Dairy in Randolph, Vermont, also featured in "Dairy Made." The cheese company Vermont Creamery purchased Ayers Brook in 2012, in part to help preserve the farm and its buildings.
photo by: Scott Suchman
Sarah Holway's property in Waterford, Virginia, highlighted in the Fall 2016 story "Cultivating Home," includes a black-painted barn and a smaller outbuilding. Her herd of goats lives in the barn, and she uses the shed as storage for tools and garden supplies.
photo by: Paul Bartholomew
At the Glasbern Inn in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, featured in Spring 2018's "Room and Board," old barns updated with guest rooms and amenities are scattered throughout the rolling landscape.
photo by: Duncan Kendall
The 19th-century Dilwyne Barn houses the guest reception area at the Inn at Montchanin Village in Wilmington, Delaware. The Inn was mentioned in the Fall 2016 feature "Garden Variety."
photo by: Monica Donovan and Judd Lamphere
The picturesque barn at Bragg Farm in Fayston, Vermont, also covered in the Spring 2017 story "Dairy Made." Owner Marisa Mauro, who operates Ploughgate Creamery on the property, purchased the former dairy farm through a program of the Vermont Land Trust.
photo by: Monica Donovan and Judd Lamphere
The hayloft inside the barn at Bragg Farm, which was built in 1909.
