A local cultural organization used to have cows, not art, within its walls.
The Dairy Barn, now a gallery, was originally named the Athens State Hospital Barn and housed patients in food production. The building is an example of one of the many barns that will be featured in a tour as part of the conference held by the Friends of Ohio Barns organization.
The annual event rotates throughout different parts of Ohio, this year taking place in Athens.
“The heyday of barns being built was in the post-Civil War era, which was still a time when many people were moving west,” said Ric Beck, president of the Friends of Ohio Barns. “Ohio has such a significant amount of different styles of barns, probably more than any other state.”
The daylong barn tour will be the first day of the event, followed by the conference the next day. Tim Anderson, an associate professor in geography, will be a speaker at the conference. Anderson will be speaking about Ohio’s Pennsylvania barns, which are one of his research interests.
“Folk housing and barn types can be clues to the origins of the population (in an area),” said Anderson, a member of Friends of Ohio Barns. “(A lot of barns in Southeast Ohio) came from people of the Upland South, so Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. The barn tour would be an example.”
One of the types of barn that are common in Athens is the transverse crib barn, which is associated with the Upland South.
There will also be a half-day workshop on Thursday, featuring advice on how to repair structures from farmers who have refurbished barns.
Beck said the conference will bring together Friends of Ohio Barns members, however, the event is open to all members of the public. Those interested in attending can sign up to participate in the conference on the Friends of Ohio Barns website.
“(The conference will allow attendees) to see the importance of barns,” Beck said. “It’s also a (salute to the builders) because they understood the idea of recycling their work … they used smaller barns to build (others).”
Beck said barns are one of the best examples of green buildings and sustainability. He added that some of the buildings also couldn’t be replicated, because trees no longer grow the height required to create the length of plank used in the structure.
“These were meant to stand for generations,” said Beck. “(Recognizing these barns) is in large part because we want to honor our forefathers, (who) worked as hard as they did to turn forested areas into some of the prime farmland that it is … It attests to their ability to make marvelous things out of simple tools.”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
