Trending
ALLENSVILLE – It takes a community to raise a barn.
The Kishacoquillas Valley Historical Society’s “new” barn has been constructed in Allensville, thanks to the efforts of many individuals, organizations and businesses.
After suffering from a devastating fire on Oct. 9, 2014, in which many irreplaceable antiques and documents were destroyed, the society struggled with notion of whether to replace the barn. Yearning to preserve the agriculture history of Kish Valley, the society agreed to rebuild.
Fred Brown, president of the KVHS Board of Directors, pursued the Ore Bank Farm barn he knew was available.
Located in Belleville, the bank barn fit the society’s criteria of having a barn that was from the valley and had some historical value. The seven-generation barn, belonging to the Preston and Jennifer (Sharp) Yoder family, was in a state of deterioration, but Jim Bonson, of Joe Bonson Construction, looked the structure over to see if he could make a good barn out of it. After several trips he determined the barn was good, so he made drawings and started tagging each beam.
“I visually take apart buildings in my mind,” Bonson said. “I’ve taken down a number of buildings, houses and put them back up as they were before.”
The dismantling of the barn started on Oct. 5, 2015. Structure logs, boards and planks were put into storage at the former New Holland plant, thanks to Chip Kerstetter Jr., who gave them the storage. The sleeper logs were put into place on the old foundation in Allensville in November. The barn was completely dismantled by Thanksgiving.
Bonson said a number of pieces needed repaired or replaced and, fortunately, they could do that. He said even though some wood had to be replaced, visitors won’t be able to tell the difference.
“Ninety percent of the barn is the original Sharp barn,” Bonson said.
Starting in April, a crew of Nebraska Amish, under the direction of Bonson and his son, Joe, started to put the barn back together.
With the volunteer help of Mike Boring, Jeff Young and Allensville Planning Mill, and their crews, logs were hauled to the site and lifted using donated heavy equipment to handle the 40- to 50-foot long beams.
New roof shingles were done by Big Valley Roofing.
The barn now features new siding and flooring that are all Hemlock timber.
Once the roof and siding were complete, Reuben Renno stained the underside of the roof between the rafters and the new granary for aesthetic value to match the old rafters.
Inside, exposed structural framework makes the entire expanse of the building visible.
The load-bearing beams are the major component of the barn’s character, and include a complex system of beams, braces, posts and rafters.
The smell of freshly-cut wood fills the air, and visitors can hear the wind flowing through the crevices in the barn.
As a special finishing touch, an upside-down heart was cut into the top wall of the barn. An Amish tradition says it’s upside down to hold more love.
Examples of 19th century hardware and building techniques are evident with the mortise and pin design. The barn has 500 to 600 handmade pins throughout the structure, at each joint. A sample of how the mortise and pin joint works is also on display for use as a teaching tool.
A new granary, designed by Bonson, was installed thanks to donations of old boards and a door from the Metz farm.
“It’s pretty convincing,” Bonson said of the granary. “It’s a good teaching tool to students and visitors.”
A new gun wall was also installed, which protects the posts when farmers pulled their horses, equipment, and eventually tractors into the barn.
Brown and Bonson both agreed that the project went smoothly, without injuries, since barn raisings are dangerous.
“The most challenging part is done with framing, logistics and danger,” Brown said.
One of the challenges that arose during the project was that the new barn was larger than the original foundation that the Bonsons laid in 2002.
The Ore Bank barn was originally a five-bay barn, so one bay was removed and then another three to four feet were also removed. The width of the barn was also shortened by five feet, which changed the pitch of the roof, so each post had to be cut and the angle changed.
The bottom floor of the barn is yet to be completed. This summer and fall, contractors will start on the basement floor where the genealogy library, office, conference room, handicap accessible bathroom and display area will be housed. Eventually, the public will be permitted to come in and do research on that floor, but not until the spring.
Handicapped access to the top of the barn is also in order before the structure is open to the public.
On July 7, the historical society started moving a few antique agricultural pieces into the top of the barn, including a 1850 McCormick Reaper and a New Holland burr mill made around 1907.
The society is interested in donations of local pieces from the valley or that have direct ties to families or industry in the valley. Items must also be appropriate for the time period.
“We would like to have a story with the piece,” Brown said. “We will use the piece to tell the story, and as an educational tool. We want to try to display stuff to educate people how things were done in the past.”
Former New Holland and/or Hertzler and Zook pieces are highly desired by the society for display.
The former barn had an entire bay that featured all New Holland pieces, but unfortunately fire destroyed all of them.
The historical society is also interested in the following items: butchering equipment, apple butter equipment, leather and harness making equipment, milking equipment or milk cans with labels and carpentry tools.
Some items that will be returning to the barn are fracturs, show towels and documents that have been returned from the insurance company.
Mary Ann Stratton, of the historical society, said not all of those items could be saved. She also said Joe Peachey is actively redoing the cherry meeting room tables and chairs that were pulled out of the barn before they were destroyed, and metal items are being sandblasted currently.
The Mifflin County Historical Society also donated books that were extra copies from their collection.
Out of all the artifacts that will be on display, the biggest one is the barn itself.
“Not to many historical societies have a structure like this,” Brown said. “It’s unique in that sense.”
Barns, often community landmarks, make the past present and help to preserve history for future generations. Bonson said old barns are disappearing and new barns of today aren’t built like this one.
“They have a good barn again and it’s nice to see it together,” Bonson said. “We take barns for granted; some are more special than others.”
Brown said the Sharp family has been to Allensville to see the barn in place and are very pleased with the outcome.
Brown is also pleased with all of the community support given to getting the barn back into place.
“I’m appreciative of the people who donated time and effort here,” he said.
The cause of the fire was never determined, but Brown feels a lot of good came out of it.
“A lot of things came together at the right time, right place and right people and made it happen,” Brown said. “New beginnings bring new opportunities.”
The KVHS has other plans for the future, if funding allows. The society purchased a building adjacent to the museum with hopes of turning it into a carriage house and blacksmith shop. This would make the property become more like a campus atmosphere with the house, barn and carriage house. Brown said the operating costs for the house and barn are already significant, even with volunteer help.
Donations for the barn project and future projects are welcome. For donations of agriculture artifacts, call Fred Brown at 483-6924 or Bill Stratton at 242-2666. Donations may be sent to KVHS, P.O. Box 43, Allensville, PA 17002. KVHS is a 5013C non-profit organization, so all donations are tax deductible.
The annual Harvestfest celebration, which is the society’s biggest fund raiser of the year, will be held Oct. 7 at Brookmere Winery. This year’s theme is “Come to the Barn Raising.”
The Kish Valley Historical Society museum, located at 138 E. Market St., Allensville, is open the second and fourth Sunday and Monday. Sunday hours are 1 to 3 p.m. and Monday hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment by calling 483-6525.
The KVHS is tentative planning an open house for the barn in May 2017.