Isabella County Offers Historic Barn Tour
8/20/09
Contact: Michelle Lavra
517-432-1555, ext. 151
or
Vera Wiltse
989-772-0911, ext. 302
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. -- Isabella County’s round roofed barns will be featured as part of a historic barn tour scheduled for Sept. 19.
Registration will take place at the 4-H food stand at the Isabella County Fairgrounds (500 N. Mission Rd.) from 9 to 9:30 a.m., with a cost of $6 per person or $20 for families of four or more (limit one vehicle per family). Steve Stier, a noted barn restorationist and founding member of the Michigan Barn Preservation Network, will give a presentation on curved-rafter barns at 9:30 a.m. at the registration site.
“Isabella County is a perfect location to see round roofed barns,” said Michigan State University (MSU) Extension educator Vera Wiltse. “There is oral history that the first round- roofed barn was built in Isabella County. While there is no hard evidence to prove it, there is definitely an abundance of these barns in the county.”
“While ‘curved rafter’ or ‘round roofed’ barns are scattered throughout every corner of Michigan, the concentration is at five to 10 percent of the total number of traditional barns,” said Stier. “In many townships in Isabella County, as many as half [of the barns] are curved rafter barns. This fact, plus preliminary research, indicates that this region may be the birthplace of these extraordinary barns.”
After the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to go on two self-driven tours that will both include six to eight stops. One of the stops on the tour will be the Hovey Barn, the last curved rafter, hip-roof barn still standing in Isabella County. The tour will also feature several other barns available for photo shoots only.
This event is a part of the Isabella County sesquicentennial celebration and is sponsored in part by Isabella County MSU Extension 4-H Youth Development and the Michigan Barn Preservation Network.
For more information please contact Wiltse at the Isabella County MSU Extension office at 989-772-0911, ext. 302 or by e-mail at wiltsev@msu.edu.
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