It's not the greatest picture, I know.
I have always loved this barn. One of the best things about our move to Barefoot Manor is that I get to drive by it every time I go to work. Of course, you can't see much at night, but on the weekends I also get to drive past it on the way home.
I like old barns, especially when they are a little run down and decrepit. This one really catches my interest because (though you can't really tell in the photo) the water actually creeps all the way up and laps at the stones of the foundation. In wet springs, it seems the barn was built actually on the water.
I often wonder what caused that long ago farmer to build it so close to the water. Was he just really lazy (and in possession of lazy animals) and this was the easiest way to water them? I wonder if the area was drier back then, and if so what happened to create this little pond. I imagine that farmer's surprise if he were to see the situation today.
I just wonder.
That's the way it is for me with old barns, old homes, old farms. They inspire a curiosity about their origins and the lives that were led in them. I especially love old farmsteads with root cellars in the hill by the house. Something about it is romantic and yet earthy. You have no illusions that there weren't hardships and uncertainties, but there is a sense of stability and timelessness. I want to go poking around for old bits and bobs from past inhabitants of the home. I want to read the newspapers that were invariably used for insulation on the interior walls. I want to take what few steps I can into that world, and keep the stories I find there alive.
Maybe I should be an archaeologist when I grow up.....
3 comments:
It looks like a watercolor - no pun intended. Cool pic.
Hang in there and keep up the good work on YOU.
Ok, rudely this comment has nothing to do with your post!! Now I have a confession, Barefoot Gardener, I'm not entirely sure who you are, and this is terrible, because you clearly know who I am!! You have concealed your identity well in your profile. Very few clues except sprout pics. I do think you are S.H. And I should have told you this after your first kind comment you left me on my blog. Am I right? Let me in on the secret, and don't be mad :) Love your blog, BTW. Just subscribed. And I'm jealous that you have a pond and a barn. :)
I love old barns too! This one looks like it wanted to be a water mill when it grew up!!
I'm betting that the pond grew over the years and met up with the barn. Nobody would go to the effort to build a barn for their animals that wasn't dry!!
I have known a few lazy animals, though, that might need this kind of housing just to get their water brought to them!
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