Local Barns

I was visiting one of my neighbors recently and noticed he has several sprawling barns that are in various stages of atrophy and decay. It inspired me to give you a tour of the local barns in my valley.

Notice how the boards on this one are buckling and popping loose as the corner drops:

It's easy to take these old relics for granted. It seems like they've always looked old and decrepit.  But, of course, they are slowly but surely falling down.

Old barns have a mystery and a presence about them that I just love. Just about every where you look, you'll see some formerly well used artifact, half buried in the dirt floor or hanging on the walls.

Here's a fine example of a beautiful old log barn. It looks good at first glance, but notice how the footing is pushing out on the left front corner.

Most of the barns in this area were designed for hanging tobacco in.  They're just no longer used or needed anymore. I suspect it won't be long before many, if not most, of them will be settled into heaps of debris.

This barn used to have a wooden silo attached on the left side. Just last year it was still standing, but as you can see, it has caved in on itself.  This farm has several well-cared-for old barns as well.

Take a moment to admire the way this thing sways and rambles along:

I love the effort they've put in trying to keep this one standing. So far, so good.

The effort here is a little more casual:

I believe this next one is an old commissary, but I don't really know. It looks like one, anyway. Notice the bars on the windows.

Somehow, this post seems fitting for Memorial day. So many veterans came back from the wars and went to work on these old farms.