Beautiful Barns
More than 1,000 farms stand along the scenic back roads of Butler County, and more often than not, the barns are the heart of the homesteads.
Whether used to house livestock, store farm equipment or host gatherings, the barns on the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau's new self-guided driving tour are a vital part of the county's agricultural history.
The tour features 16 barns visible from public roads and is divided into three routes following Route 19, Route 68 and Route 8.
The tour was announced last month in a press release, and brochures are available at more than 25 public buildings throughout Butler County with regional advertising to follow, said Patti Jo Lambert, spokeswoman for the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau.
The barns's construction dates range from the early 1800s to modern day, like the one at Four Points in Penn Township built in 1999 and the barn at O'Planick's Apple Orchard in Renfrew. That barn was rebuilt in 2009 when the existing 1800s structure was disassembled in Armstrong County and moved to its current site.
Bureau staff members discussed the idea of a barn tour in the past, taking a cue from covered bridge driving tours popular in other counties."We looked at ourselves and thought, 'We have beautiful barns here, so let's celebrate them and promote them,'" Lambert said.Combined with the public's growing interest in all things local, the time seemed right to develop the tour, she said.The tourism bureau began searching for barns last fall and sought nominations from all over the county.Interesting or unique architecture was considered, and a wide variety of materials were used to build the barns on the tour.The barn at Powell Farm in Cranberry Township was built in 1864 using materials like pine timber and stones gathered from the surrounding area, while the Drovers Inn Farm barn in Harmony is made entirely of stone and features four silos, one of which is unusually built into the side of the barn.
Lambert said many barns were "guaranteed," such as the historic Ziegler-Wise Barn, the oldest in the region. The Harmony Society built the barn in 1805."It was the first barn they built here in America and it's the only surviving one of the three Harmony Society sites," said Kathy Luek, administrator at the Harmony Museum.The Harmonists were a German Protestant separatist group that settled in Harmony from 1804 to 1814 to escape religious persecution in Germany, she said. The 48-by-73-foot barn was sold to the Wise family in the 1870s or 1880s, Luek said. By the 1990s, the 9,000-acre property was sold to a developer, except for the barn and adjoining 1.4 acres that were sold to an individual.The Harmony Museum purchased the barn from that individual in 1999 for $180,000 after nearly three years of fundraising. The freshly-painted red barn is less than half a mile from the Harmony Museum's main building.The museum restored the barn to its original 1850s condition after the sale, Luek said. The structure is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The center of Harmony is already a National Historic Landmark.
In addition to putting new siding on the barn and making repairs, the museum staff made the interior more historically accurate."Inside, there was some type of grain dryer that took up half of the barn floor, so we removed that and had barn planking put back in," Luek said.The only discrepancy is the silo built in the 1950s, although that has its own historical significance."They used the old bricks from downtown Zelienople," Luek said.The barn now houses the museum's large collection of agricultural tools from around the same era.The barn is not open on a regular basis but visitors can make arrangements by calling the Harmony Museum.The barn at Four Points in Penn Township is a modern-day counterpart of the Ziegler-Wise Barn, though the materials and methods used to build the Four Points barn are age-old, said owner Don Philips, who designed the barn's structure and enlisted the help of Amish craftsmen.Construction began in April 1999 and took just 11 days, Phillips said."It really was a unique experience," he said. "It may be a modern style barn but it was built with old-fashioned craftsmanship."The barn is made of hemlock, which Phillips said is a traditional barn material.Another time-honored feature is the 12-feet tall cupola that was hoisted to the top of the barn by workers without any modern machinery.The cupola can be left open to release hot air in the summer or closed to seal in warmth in the winter.
"It's actually about 15 degrees cooler in the summer and 15 degrees warmer in the winter than it is outside," said Phillips. "I wanted the working cupola not only for the appearance of it, but also for its capacities."Phillips and his wife Jan keep about 40 alpacas on their farm, deriving most of the farm's income from the sale of bloodlines. They also operate the Inn at Four Points bed and breakfast.With advanced notice, visitors can take a tour of Four Points and learn about the care and keeping of alpacas, Phillips said."We take it a little bit further; you don't have to look at us through a pair of binoculars," he said. "We encourage people to come back to our farm, look at our animals and get to know them for the beautiful animals that they are."The animals are docile in nature, so even young children can touch them and see them up close, Phillips said."Some people like to help with the chores," he added. "They like to go out with us when we feed or when we do the before-bed check to make sure everybody is where they should be."Lambert said she encourages tourists to take advantage of such offers and experience the barn tour in its entirety, which takes about a day and a half."To really get the most out of it, visit the farm markets, stay overnight and immerse yourself in the whole experience," she said.Phillips said he and his wife feel very fortunate to have been included in the tour since there are so many beautiful barns in Butler County."There are some absolutely exquisite barns that, thankfully, the owners have kept in good repair," Phillips said."They're an excellent example of the architecture and the lasting quality of the workmanship that went into making them."
Barns like the Wimer Barn in Portersville were nominated for the tour due to their historical significance and interesting structure or design.Built in 1893, the framework of the Wimer Barn is constructed of planks nailed together instead of the more commonly used hand-hewn logs, said owner Dale Wimer, who is unsure why this method was chosen."Maybe there were not woods close by, maybe there were not enough logs to make the beams all in one piece," he speculated. "Or perhaps it was just a new type of construction they were experimenting with."The 56-by-40-foot structure is a prime example of a Pennsylvania bank barn, Wimer said."The barn was built into the bank, and that's how they easily accessed the second floor," he said.Wimer estimates that the vast majority of barns in this area are bank barns, even though it's likely that many were modified over the years."As things progressed on the farm and became more prosperous, they might add a shed on the back," he said. "Or they covered up the forebay, which is what happened with this particular barn."The weathered red barn was used for dairy farming until 1970, when Wimer and his family left the business. Wimer now leases the land to two neighboring farmers and spends his time maintaining the 200-acre property.The barn has withstood the test of time, with two granaries and some cow stanchions and calf pens in their original states.The barn has undergone just a few renovations, including a silo built around 1915, Wimer said.The bricks were transported by the Western Allegheny Railroad to the Portersville station in the early 1900s and hauled to the farm in a wagon, he added."When he was just a teenager, my dad was driving the team and hauling the bricks up," Wimer said.About three years ago, the original slate roof was replaced with steel and gutters, downspouts and new doors were installed.Five generations of the Wimer family have lived on the farm since 1834, including Wimer, his wife Karen and their sons Travis and Seth.People will enjoy the driving tour because of nostalgia and the beautiful scenery, Wimer said."It's a very picturesque area with the rolling hills and the trees on the hillside," Wimer said. "It's a nice drive."
