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A growing number of
Ohioans, including farmers and rural property owners, are increasingly
concerned about the loss of our farm heritage, especially the
disappearance of barns and older farm buildings. Interests in
rehabilitating, converting, and preserving existing farm buildings to meet
today's farm demands is growing across the state. In 1997 a traveling
Smithsonian exhibit on the BARN AGAIN! Program will be coming to several
locations in Ohio. Still, despite this growing interest, farmers and
concerned citizens have found it difficult to obtain guidance and the
technical information needed to rehabilitate and reutilize older farm
buildings and rural structures.
PROGRAM PROPOSAL
Based on a groundswell of interest expressed by
farmers, citizens and organizations alike, the Ohio State University
Extension (OSU-Extension), a division of The Ohio State University's
College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, in conjunction
with the Ohio Historic Preservation Office (OHPO), a division of the Ohio
Historical Society, proposes to sponsor a series of Barn Rehabilitation
and Reutilization Workshops. This project will help provide rural property
owners with information and the means to make intelligent decisions
regarding the rehabilitation and reutilization of agricultural/rural
structures. How much repair can the farmer make, and at what point will
the services of a contractor be needed? As envisioned, workshops will be
held annually in selected district/ regional locations around the state.
The specific locations of the workshops will be determined by the district
extension specialists of the OSU-Extension and regional staff of the Ohio
Historic Preservation Office. Dr. Ann Christy, with the Department
of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the College of Food,
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University, will
serve as the project facilitator and extension coordinator. Mr. Stephen P.
Gordon, of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office at the Ohio Historical
Center, will assist with and help oversee the development and
implementation of the project.
A barn and farm structures rehabilitation
program is needed in Ohio, where there are 75,000 working farms. While new
structures are constantly being built, farmers are also looking for
affordable ways to retain and use their existing farm buildings.
Informative workshops followed by practical tours of area barns are being
held in each of the five Extension Districts/Preservation Regions
throughout Ohio. The agendas and itineraries for these workshops have been
developed with the assistance of The Ohio State University district
extension specialists and Ohio Historic Preservation Office regional
staff. The district extension agents along with county extension agents
are coordinating most of the local workshop arrangements. Based on
feedback generated by the rural property owners and interested
participants, the BARN AGAIN! In Ohio program and its respective workshops
are being fine tuned in preparation for better meeting the needs of those
owing agriculture structures and/or interested in rural buildings. The
Annual Agricultural Education Teachers Conference and 4-H Leaders
Conference are additional forums for presenting the focus of this program
to an audience who will be able to help with its
dissemination.
FORMAT
Since 1979, the Ohio Historic Preservation
Office has sponsored their popular Building Doctor Clinics. Each year a
series of lectures and site visits are held in communities where there is
an expressed interest in and need for preserving historic buildings. These
clinics are frequently held in larger communities and, as a result,
typically do not reach agricultural and rural audiences. These clinics
will serve as models for the Barn Rehabilitation and Revitalization
Workshops
The format for the Barn Rehabilitation and/or
Reutilization Workshops will consist of a full day or evening of
illustrated lectures followed the next day by an open tour of selected
rural barns and farm buildings. The workshop lectures will focus on such
topics as a background history of Ohio's rural barns and farm buildings,
rehabilitation techniques and materials, building conversions, examples of
rehabilitated barns along with a panel discussion which will include time
for questions and answers. Product displays and barn contractor exhibits will be included in
these workshops.
The day following the lecture the panelists and
selected barn contractors/experts, along with the workshop participants,
will tour selected farm buildings and rural structures in the local area
that have undergone or are in the process of rehabilitation and
reutilization. Hands and eyes-on information about stabilization, repair,
adaptive use and rehabilitation will be presented during the
tour.
The primary audience will be agriculturists and
any owners of historic structures, or any other rural buildings that
served agricultural purposes. Owners of commercial buildings will not be
targeted. Also, farmhouses will not be included within the workshops,
although several issues that may pertain to the preservation of rural
residential dwellings might be addressed.
REFERENCE MATERIALS
As part of the registration fee, each
participant will receive a packet containing reference materials,
including a Guide to the History, Architecture and Preservation of Ohio's
Farm Buildings. Collation of these materials will be overseen by Ohio
State University-Extension. If additional packets are desired they can be
requested by calling OSU-Extension at 614-292-1607.
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