You've seen the ancient structures as you travel mid-Michigan's byways. Old barns, boards missing, holes in the roofs, leaning at such an angle that you think the next strong wind might just blow them over.
We are losing these barns in mid-Michigan and throughout the state, and they are not just meaningless old buildings. They are links to the yesteryears of agriculture, a look at the past that is an important piece of the state's history.
There is a group--the
Michigan Barn Preservation Network--that focuses on ways to keep the structures, sometimes more than 150 years old, from being lost. There are 250 members of the group statewide, and they want landowners with barns to rehabilitate them if possible, not destroy them.
"There is just something about an old barn that should be valued," saysVera Wiltse, of Coleman, who sits on the MBPN board. "They are a part of our agricultural history, and with every barn that goes away, that's one more piece of history that we lose."
The MBPN faces a major problem in that there isn't much data on how many barns are left in Michigan, so it is virtually impossible to tell the rate at which they are being lost.
Twenty years ago in Isabella County, there was a survey of barns done in Nottawa Township by a scout troop and 4-H members, and for many years that was the only official data on record. In recent years, five complete counties have been surveyed, and the information is on hand--part of it at Central Michigan University and part of it at Michigan State University.
Wiltse says the MBPN plans to tackle the data collection in earnest this year.
"It's one of the things we want to put a real emphasis on," says Wiltse, who grew up on a dairy farm and watched her father--with an 8th-grade education--draw the designs and build a barn from the ground up. "Visually, we know the barns are falling down, but we'd like to gather as much information that we can on how many there are, how many we are losing, and we'd also like to figure out a way to get all the information in one location.
"Also, we'd like to resurvey Nottawa Township, just to see how many barns have been lost since it was surveyed 20 years ago."
The MBPN holds quarterly meetings in various parts of the state, and holds its annual conference in March as part of the Michigan State University Agriculture and Natural Resources Week. There are workshops, conferences, instructional sessions on rehabilitating barns, talks from contractors who specialize in barn rehabilitation, and much more information about how to save rather than destroy old barns.
The statewide group also organizes a barn tour as part of the conference. There are other barn tours throughout the year. The most recent was a Fall Ball Tour on Sept. 21 in Ann Arbor. Wiltse last year organized a barn tour of Mackinac Island.
"The tours give people a first-hand look at how fascinating a barn can be," Wiltse says. "You can see different additions to the barn, and actually see from builder to builder, generation to generation and farmer to farmer why additions were made based on what kind of farming was being done."
There is another way barns are being utilized throughout the state: businesses and other public organizations. Three such examples in mid-Michigan include Pride & Country Village Store in Saginaw,
Remus Farm and Garden in Remus, and the
Montcalm Community College Barn Theater in Standish.
"These places just prove that there are good uses for barns, even in other places besides just private property and peoples' homes," Wiltse says. "It is great to see refurbished barns put to good use."
Owner Rickay Main at Remus Farm and Garden uses a barn as her place of business to sell feed for horses, cattle goats, poultry, domestic animals, wild birds, wildlife, fish and more. The refurbished barn "provides all the room necessary, and gives the store the perfect look."
Montcalm Community College's Barn Theater is home to the school's drama and music classes, and those classes often perform on the stage. Performances from other artists also are held throughout the year.
For the first five years after the school purchased the barn in 1965, it was used strictly as a storage site, but then local residents and students renovated it into a theater. A new wing was added in 1973, and it was updated again in 2007. It now seats 173 people and has a dressing room, make-up room, sound booth, lighting booth and a great stage.
"That is a great use of a barn," Wiltse says. "It has everything they need, plus a lot of country charm."
Barb Schian, owner of Pride & Country Village Store, is proud that part of her store is made up of a restored barn.
"It serves a great function for us, plus it just gives the place a folksy feel that people love," Schian says. "We use it as a bakery, deli, gourmet food store, gift shop. The guys just love it. They just will be oohing and aahing at the barn, looking up at the ceiling and at the walls while their wives are shopping."
Pride & Country has been in business since 1989, but didn't add and restore the barn until 1994. That's when the feel of the business changed, according to Schian.
"We felt it was important to restore the barn and make it part of the business," she says. "Then we took on a whole different personality. It really makes a difference, makes us feel like a real country store."
Jeff Barr is a freelance writer who has lived in Michigan for 46 years. You can reach Jeff at barrj88@gmail.com.