There is a possibility, probably slight but still a possibility, that V and I will be relocating a Mail Pouch barn onto our little farm.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This all came about in a very seat-of-the-pants way. I was riding home from a horse show with my trainer and her mom when we passed by a lovely historic barn (I wrote my masters thesis on barns so I'm always quite the barn looky-loo!) and I commented on it. My trainer tells me that the state DOT is going to torch or bulldoze it because they're doing a highway widening. My response was to beg her to get in touch with her contact and see what she could find out. So now we're calling the DOT and trying to find out what exactly they're planning for it. I haven't been inside, but it appears to be in remarkably good condition. My gut is that it's a timber frame rather than balloon, which will make it easier in some ways to disassemble. All things being equal, we might be able to take down entire bents rather than going beam by beam. That would make reassembling much, much easier--fewer parts to put back together! One of these days I'll brave the trespassing charge and take a peek inside to gauge the condition and check out the construction.
It may not be realistically feasible for us, but we're sure going to try to bring it home. Right now our plan is to probably disassemble it, load it onto a flatbed, truck it to our farm, and put it on pallets and tarp it until spring. This will A) allow us more time to get some cash together to get footings poured, etc., and B) allow us some time to figure out just exactly where we'd like to put it.
Please, everyone, keep a good thought for us. We have long wanted to do something like this, and it looks like this might just be our chance. Now we really need to find that buried coffee can of gold!
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3 comments:
It's fate! FATE, I tell ya! Good luck getting the barn home!
Oh, how I wish I'd known you a few years ago! We had an old barn on our property, which was originaly an apple orchard, that wasn't being used anymore. Our farmhouse is 220 years old, but the barn was much older-part of the 'original' farm. Anyway, this thing was built entirely without nails! Just toungue and groove and peg and hole. It was an amazing structure! The hand hewn beams were something to behold in themselves. Unfortunately, the upper-crusties decided it was an eyesore since we couldn't afford the money it would have taken to restore it, and we had to have it destroyed. Broke my heart. I actually cried as I watched it come down :( We begged and pleaded for someone to move it-even had someone come from Pen to take a look, but they decided it would have cost too much to move all that timber and rock that far. Terrible pity some people have to be so...snobbish. Good luck with getting this one!
Good luck, G! This is so exciting!
KimO
P.S. I just started blogging myself. It's great!
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