I've always had a weakness for barns. It must be my intense nostalgia and love for all things vintage. Barns are rooted in a time almost forgotten... a place in history that was far simpler than our fast-paced century. When we relocated from our urban life, farmland was what called out to us. We wanted the romance of rolling fields, cows lowing, and a big red barn. Our 1850's farmhouse is surrounded by some of the last standing small farms of our time. Some have remained in the hands of families who settled here after the Civil War. As I drive by their barns, whether they're patched and tidy
or crumbling to the ground...
I can't help but dream about the times they were built in. Was it a traditional barn raising? Did it go up in a day? What food did they celebrate with? What stories are hidden in those rafters filled with swallow nests. When farm life slows for the winter, the barns stands sentry over the snow covered fields, waiting for the day when the earth awakens. Welcome to my neighborhood. These are my landmarks as I drive home from town. I think of each of them as friends...
And I'm sure you recognize this last one, my mother's barn home! Stop back tomorrow with some news from the barn... it's very exciting!
Wow! Maya, thanks for posting these beautiful photographs! There are some mighty grand barns in your neck of the woods! Yes, the demise of the family farm in America is a huge issue....
ReplyDeletethe varied textures and shapes are so fabulous..it really is a piece of life we know ...the shape so recognizable
ReplyDeleteI also have a love of barns living in Vermont. I have begun to research how farmers built such beautiful yet functional structures - financially. How did they afford this? Was wood so much less? Did the community work together to build a new barn? Was there more of a reverence for architectural beauty back then, then there is today?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these wonderful photos.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
I, too, love barns and enjoyed your spread very much. Here in Kentucky, we have an extremely wide range of barns, from the million dollar plus thoroughbred stallion complexes to the tobacco barn up the road that is nearly IN the road (just about 1 foot off the pavement). I'm always sad to see another one fall....
ReplyDeleteYou have such a beautiful drive home. My dad is a carpenter and just recently have to tear down a barn, much to his and my dismay. But he saved a lot of the wood from the beams and we have been using it to make things so that the barn can live on.
ReplyDeleteSo beautifully and eloquently stated Maya! We made the move 8 years ago from the fast paced city life of So. California to a sleepy little village in So. VT and now (3 yrs ago) to a cozy cabin in rural Upstate NY! I am still amazed every time I drive past all of those little farms to our "village" or walk down our little country road with my DD that we actually live here!
ReplyDeleteGreat pics! I LOVE old barns too!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos...I have also always had a thing for barns. I think it comes from hearing how my dad and his 6 siblings grew up on a farm. I have always wanted to have a farm of my own.
ReplyDeleteOh, your neighborhood is glorious....you know, I feel the very same way about barns. I love them so much...I know it is because we spent summers in virginia growing up & the house we owned was on 165 acres, pre-civil war, and had a barn. I loved exploring that barn SO much, I loved the smells and fancied myself a romantic farmer, tending to her animals. :) How beautiful, thank you for sharing these with us. I can't wait to hear your exciting news! :)
ReplyDeletexo
Melis
Being a farmer's daughter and a farm wife for many years, this is a post very dear to my heart. I do admit to a lot of sadness when I see the disappearance of many small family farms. The world is so different now, and in order to make it financially, the larger size of their dairy herds makes many old barns obsolete. As small family farmers, it was a great way to raise our children with our family all working together, but it was not what I would call romantic, but instead a lot of very hard work.
ReplyDeleteThese old historic barns are beautiful and it's wonderful when you see them being preserved. Thank you, Maya, for sharing this in your blog. - Mary
If I didn't know better I would say you live by me. We also live in an agriculturally rich community so the aesthetic countryside full of barns both tall and proud and fallen and forlorn are plentiful.
ReplyDeleteWe also love barns, have dreams of retrofitting one to a house one day, at the very least having one on our (someday) property.
Until then, I enjoy our county drives.
Thanks for sharing!
i too am a barn fan; it breaks my heart to see all the falling-down ones (though they are still lovely in their decay) and i've always dreamed of renovating one like your mom's. you've inspired me to start documenting some of my favorite stately barns that i drive past all the time!
ReplyDeleteSimply beautiful. Thank you for sharing your photos.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love barns, too. I grew up with a few as friends-- the outbuildings of my parents' house--and hope someday to move back out to the country and meet some new ones. I have the same wonderings about their origins, too.
ReplyDeleteKristina
Sweetfern Handmade
I love barns as well. We passed some gorgeous ones when we were driving through Iowa a couple of months ago. Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeletewe live in a barn house, too! :D
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/castanet/2115467166/in/set-72057594076255894/
I am a barn admirer and lover too. Have you ever looked through some Eric Sloane drawings of barns. Educational as well as beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThere are tumble-down barns me and utilitarian barns around ranch country where I live.
Jody
Love these photos. It always makes me a little sad to see the dilapidated ones.
ReplyDeleteEver see a round barn? We have several in Georgia and they are pretty cool!
See:
http://www.dalejtravis.com/barn/georgia/htm/ga07201.htm
http://www.dalejtravis.com/barn/georgia/htm/ga02201.htm
How funny. Yesterday I posted about a barn I pass every day, and how I appreciate it so much. We have to remember to appreciate these simple things around us. Of course, your neighboring barns are just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteIt took me too many years to get back to rural America. I too thought those barns look familiar - could be in my own neighborhood. The pic I have posted on my own blog shows ours is unfortunately decayed. The materials will be recycled.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I know I will return to your blog.
What a beautiful post. I used to live in rural Wisconsin and daily drove past barns that looked just like these. Barns are such glorious testimonies to days gone by. I miss my home on 10 acres of rolling hills covered with maples, pines and birch. Your photos have touched my heart.
ReplyDeleteI really do think that barns are most beautiful in the winter!
ReplyDeletei saw a couple of these the other day and thought of doing the same thing. they are lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love staying away from your blog and then visiting it and having all sorts of loveliness to catch up on.
ReplyDeleteBeeeauuutiiiiful!
Hx
i too adore barns
ReplyDeletethere are few things as magical and standing inside a barn on a sun filled day and watching the light beams pour through the small crack in the wood
my favorite sort of cathedral
Your barn pictures are beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteI love old barns too, for me the they are something so remote... (I'm from Spain). Three years I go we flew to Boston and we were travelling all over Massachussets, I really loved the rural parts, the landscapes, the old barns and cottages... I keep this time deep in my heart.
ReplyDeleteI've read you live in rural New York, that sound so amazing to me!
I can't wait to see the time to go back to those atmospheres...
Rosanna, from cosasconencanto.blogspot.com
Beautiful. Old barns and snow are a sublime combination, suggesting both decay and renewal. In a way, you could see old barns as slowly melting into the soil. Both snow and barns will inevitably melt away, but within completely different timeframes.
ReplyDeleteI don't see your barn!
Ahhh... mutual barn love!Great links in your comments, too!
ReplyDeleteHey jmf! Can't think about taking photos of winter barns without thinking of your love for them, too! Almost included ours here... I did on flickr right here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/24553035@N04/4308620416/
I never really thought about barns until seeing these. I'd love to take some pictures of barns.
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible pictures. I suppose one would expect the traditional summer or fall shot, but there is something about them in these wintry landscapes.
ReplyDeleteLove these.
I'm a barn lover too. I also love looking at older buildings & thinking about their history.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous barns. Makes me miss my roots in rural Michigan. Love the red ones most of all!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite certain that, as far as pictures go, barn pics are amongst my favorites!!! Those are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIs the collapsing barn in Sheffield, MA? Beautiful pictures and many of the barns seem very familiar.
ReplyDelete