Barns dismantled, restored

Associated Press

FREDERICKTOWN, Ohio

There probably hadn’t been this much traffic along winding and narrow Dean Road for years.

Recently, the isolated stretch of countryside was abuzz with people. Some came to take pictures, some to swap stories, some to gawk. Others simply came to say goodbye.

It was a roadside wake, of sorts, for Ol’ Rusty. The barn that has stood sentinel over the Knox County corner for at least 170 years was coming down.

As they watched a crew dismantle it, beech timber by beech timber, the “neighborhood boys” — some now in their 70s — recalled stacking baled hay in there decades ago.

Bonnie Warner, who has lived most of her 61 years practically within spitting distance of the corner, lamented how the landscape she recalls from her childhood walks down this dirt road will never be the same. The barn, with its massive, 40-foot-by-75-foot frame, seemed bigger to her than even the White House back then.

The bus that took Dean Shira to grade school in the 1940s and ’50s passed the barn each day. It was, he said, like a trusted friend standing guard as they rumbled by.

As a kid, he baled hay there for Warner’s father, Glenn Ore. It was Ore who first dubbed the forebay, five-bent, Pennsylvania cantilever barn Ol’ Rusty because the metal roof was a mess. Even before the last of the timbers were down, Shira said, “I miss it already.”

Even though the locals were a little sad to see it go, they drew comfort that it wasn’t destined for only a burn pile. The barn will be rebuilt and restored on another Knox County property. Its lower level will be used to store farm equipment, and the upper levels will become a hub for family gatherings.

Columbus lawyer Doug Morgan calls it “history in the remaking.”

Morgan is a skilled craftsman who has disassembled two 1820s log homes and a 19th-century barn, moved them to his family’s own getaway property in Knox County and restored them. Cutting his lawyering back to 30 hours a week or so, he now focuses on his new Mount Vernon Barn Co.

He hopes to save as many as five historic barns in Ohio each year, either restoring them on site or dismantling them and breathing life into them at new locations.

True preservationists say the goal always should be to save a building where it sits, said Rachel Krause, who’s with the Ohio Historical Society’s preservation office. A lot of science went into siting these old barns, with great thought given to which direction the wind would blow through the doors, proximity to water and the benefits of the surrounding hills, valleys or flatlands. Where the barns were built is part of their story and their charm, she said.

Still, she recognizes that an on-site fix isn’t always possible.

In 2008, experts estimated that more than 35,000 timber-frame barns built before the early 1900s still dotted the Ohio landscape, and more than 4,000 barns are recorded in the Ohio Historical Society’s inventory. Though the numbers on the registry change little from year to year, barns aren’t always easy to save, Krause said. There is little money available for barn preservation, and the projects aren’t cheap.

Jay Overholt, who has owned Ol’ Rusty for several years, said he always has thought it a beautiful piece of history that ought to be saved. But it needed so much work — and a new foundation — that he didn’t have the time, money or inclination.

So when Morgan, whom he did not know, knocked on his door one evening and asked if he’d be interested in getting rid of it, Overholt was thrilled and practically gave the barn away.

The Columbus businessman for whom Morgan is working — who did not want to be identified — will have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the renovation before it is finished. Morgan said not every restoration takes that much, but even the smallest such project costs more than $50,000.

Last year seemed the prime time for Morgan to start his barn business. The slumping economy means some of his close friends need work, and he now has plenty of it.

Even a cold, steady rain one day last week didn’t dampen Don Maston’s enthusiasm. He sang “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” as he knocked nails from the beams and boards that Morgan’s hired Amish crew were slowly taking down. Maston sings tenor with Morgan in the choir at Clintonville’s Maple Grove United Methodist Church. A spate of bad luck and hard times recently set the stay-at-home father of three teenage boys back a bit.

“I’m just trying to make all the extra money I can right now,” Maston said.